Flirting With Fire
by flyingundertheradar
Summary: Stephanie meets someone special , things heat up quickly with this man that seems perfect in just about every way.Will passion ignite or is Stephanie going to get burned by the flames?
1. Mr Wonderful

**Chapter One Mr Wonderful**

The Taste of Trenton was an upscale Semi formal event that took place once a year. The city's most talented chefs prepared a sampling of their finest bite sized recipes for tasting along with tiny cups of expensive wine. Think Five star restaurant chef meets Costco at lunch time ,only way fancier. For a foodie like me it was a wet dream. This was an exclusive event, and I had scored the tickets from Joe. Since we were off again , and he was out of town for an assignment, I agreed to come by to feed and walk Bob, if he let me keep the tickets. I roamed the room trying everything I could get my hands on. I was also enjoying the art on display for silent auction, along with the live music playing.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself", a sexy voice said from over my shoulder.

I turned from the table I had been surveying , deciding what to try next. Standing behind me had to be one of the most delicious sights in the room. He stood about 6'' 4 , sold and muscular, dark wavy hair freshly cut to perfection, and gorgeous slate blue eyes I wanted to swim in. His tailored suit fit him to perfection. I gave him a slight look of embarrassment.

"Relax Pretty lady, I love a woman who is not afraid to eat , I think that is really sexy".

"Well don't stand too close to me then , because you might work yourself in to frenzy", I said giving him a wink. I was feeling extra confident tonight. My curls were beautifully tamed , mascara perfect , and lips painted a lovely shade of red. The blue knee length cocktail dress matched my eyes , and hugged all the right places.

"Yuri Kuzma", he said returning my wink , upping the anti with a smile that made my knees weak.

"Stephanie Plum", I said offering him my hand.

"Nice to met you Stephanie", he said gently kissing the back of my hand.

"Looks and manners, your mother must be so proud",I told him.

" Well she raised me right", Yuri laughed. "So did you come here just for the food or can I persuade you to join me over on the dance floor? ", he ask.

"Lucky for you I am wearing my very best dancing shoes" ,I told Yuri. We hit the dance floor, and I was excited to see that Yuri was surprisingly light and agile on his feet, he was a great dancer.

The band left the stage for another to set up, and I noticed that the waiters were starting to bring out the sampling of deserts. I spotted a display of gourmet mini donuts. As if he were reading my mind ,Yuri walked over to the table and scooped up several in a linen napkin. I grabbed two cups of coffee, and we sat down at one of the small bistro tables. Yuri picked up a tiny salted caramel donut with rum cream filling and fed it to me. I almost had an orgasm right then and there ,I not sure if it was the man or the donut.

I took a sip of coffee, and decided to hold off on another donut for the moment to avoid the risk of making some really inappropriate sounds at this classy event. I leaned in and said , "so Yuri tell me about you".

"Well , he said, I was born in Eastern Europe"

"So that explains that sexy accent of yours ", I told him.

"I used to play pro football, now I do some coaching on the side , and run an import and export business". "I love collecting beautiful things, art, cars, women", he laughed" "I am an adrenalin junky".

"I am a bit of an accidental adrenalin junky myself , I don't go looking for it, but it always seems to find me", I admitted.

"So what do you do Stephanie?", he ask.

"Nothing special", I lied. No point in running off this gorgeous man by telling him I am a bumbling bond agent.

"That is hard to believe , everything about you seems to be special", he told me.

I was blushing , this man had me blushing. We finished the rest of the donuts ,and then walked around and sampled a few more sweets.

I was having a really good night for the first time in a long time. The Taste of Trenton was just wrapping up , this had been a great night , with food and wine flowing and the deliciously handsome man who had been occupying my attention for that last two hours. Where had this man been hiding ? I could defiantly use a man like this in my life. The event was coming to a close and I did not want this night to end.

When Yuri leaned over and whispered in my ear ," Can I escort you to your car ", I was thrilled. Tonight I was driving a decent car , not big blue , this car had not been shot spray painted, or fire bombed .

The night air was cool , and Yuri took his suit jacket off before he draped it around my shoulders.

"Can't have you catching cold now", he purred.

I felt giddy with electricity pulsing though my body as he place his hand on my back. I chirped the alarm to my car and opened the door. After removing his jacket I held it out for him to accept. Taking the jacket, he removed his phone from the pocket.

"Now you know I could not leave without arranging to see you again , put your number in my contacts", he said.

YESSSSSSSSSS , I thought to myself as I sat down in my drivers seat to enter my number. This has been a great night I said to myself .

Then suddenly , all of that changed.


	2. Mr Hyde

**Hello Mr. Hyde**

 _Then suddenly all of that changed._

I felt an all too familiar sensation as the stun gun hit me, before I had finished with his phone. My mind was racing, trying to figure out what was happening. Yuri scooped my slumped body from the drivers seat and deposited me on the floor in the back of the car. He got in, closed the door, and drove off.

I must have blacked out for a while, when I came too, he was still driving. I had no idea where he was taking me. I could hear him on his cell phone talking to someone in Russian , his tone was light , jovial , and soft a laugh escaped from his throat. This man had tazed me, then dumped me in the back of my own car. He had turned an assault in to a kidnapping , and a kidnapping into a carjacking , and all of this amused him. The thought of what other crimes he planned to commit literally made me sick to my stomach. I didn't want to puke all over my new car , I started to moan loudly to get Yuri's attention. He pulled himself from the conversation.

"Shhhh my lovely, you are going to be just fine", he cooed in a thick accent.

" No I am sick, I am going to vomit", I said.

He stopped the car next to an under pass , opened the rear passengers door, and helped me to my feet. Yuri guided me over to the edge of the Delaware river , I went down to my knees ,and everything I ate that night came right back up. He held my hair and whispered soothing things to me as I crouched there heaving into the river. I recoiled at his touch, there is something wrong with this man. I had to get away from him , there was no way I was going to let him take me to another secluded place. I looked up at him, and he offered me a handkerchief, when I refused it he bent down and gently wiped my mouth.

" Don't worry sweetie you belong to Yuri now and Yuri always takes good care of his things", he said in an eerily calm voice.

A cold shiver ran down my spine and I tried to hold off the panic. Yuri moved to tuck a stray curl behind my ear. I snapped my head backwards and head butted him between the eyes. He howled in pain. I sprang to my feet and ran at full on sprint. When I was almost to the car, I was brutally tackled from behind. I laid there stunned, the wind knocked out of me, panting. Yuri flipped me over on my back, and then laid down next to me. He pulled me into his arms and placed my head on his chest.

"Stephanie be a good girl , I don't want to hurt you my pet, relax. You are going to love being with me , there is never a dull moment with Yuri. You are mine now accept it", he said.

Then he gazed up at the stars ,and began to tell me about the constellation. Yuri would have been a pretty romantic guy if he were not a stark raving lunatic who kidnapped me. When my breathing returned to normal, he stood up and looked down at me.

"Come on you're fine, just had the wind knock out of you that is all. I try to be gentle with my things , I don't like to hurt them ,but you are making it difficult for both of us", He warned.

When I did not get up he yanked me violently to my feet by my hair. "This is what I am talking about my pet!", he shouted, raising his voice for the first time tonight.

I whimpered under his grasp as he fought to get me back in the car. There was no way I was going to let that happen. Throwing all my weight backward I struggle to free myself. Yuri was still holding a hand full of my hair. Pain exploded in my scalp as a huge lock of hair was viciously torn from the top of my head. I crawled, scrambling to get away from this mad man. He grabbed my ankle and I kicked him in the gut with my other leg. I could not seem to get myself to my feet. Yuri pounced on top of me puting his massive hands around my neck.

"Behave , Behave!", he was yelling.

I could not breath , things were going black , I had to do something. I raised my arms and clawed his face. Roaring in pain, he rolled off of me. I got to my hands and knees and looked in the car , that's when I spotted the pepper spay on the floor of my car. I got to my feet,reached inside the car, and picked it up. Then he was behind me again trying to shove me back into the car by my waist. I slammed one of my stilettos into his foot and then aimed for his nuts with the other foot and missed. He reach out and gut punched me , I held on to the can and sprayed him in the face. The wind was blowing so it was not a direct hit, but it was enough for me get away again. This man was fast and was soon on my heals again.

"Why don't you follow orders!?", he raged, shoving on to the ground.

I landed hard on to a broken bottle, and I felt it slice deep though me flesh. Before that pain could register, I felt my ribs being brutally assaulted by Yuri's size twelve. He kicked me until he was out of breath. Then he reached in to the small of his back , and pulled out a nickel plated pistol with pearl handle. My heart froze and panic flashed in my eyes. Yuri started to laugh.

"Now you want to be a good girl, right my pet , get up , in the car now!", he demanded.

I got up, and Yuri wrapped his arm around my wastes leading me back to the car, pressing the gun painfully into my injured ribs. I flinched and attempted to pull away.

"Enough" he screamed, "I have been very good to you tonight , and you still you act out , no more!", he said back handing me with the gun still in hand.

I saw stars and wavered unsteadily on my feet. Yuri had both of my arms locked in a painful hold , and was shaking me so hard I thought my neck was going to snap. He slap me twice, and then threw me to the ground. He stood over me shaking his head.

"Look what you made me do ,you're a mess. I hate to damage my things, you made me damage my new favorite thing", his voice in a rough whisper.

He pulled me up by my waist and clutched me close to his chest. He didn't see the large rock I had picked up from the ground, and held hidden the in flounce of my dress. As he nuzzled my shoulder, I slammed the rock in to the back of his head. His hold on me intensified. I hit him again and he pressed the gun in to my side. I dropped the rock and tried to push the gun away. Yuri was dazed by the rock, and I was still feeling the effects from his earlier blows. The two of us were locked in a deadly tug of war , and then I heard the gun off. Yuri staggered backwards ,and fell into the river. I did not see where he was hit , or how badly. He went under ,and a small trickle of blood appeared. I stood there for what seemed to be forever ,Yuri never came to the surface. Quickly I limped to my car where the keys were still in the ignition. I jumped in started the motor and sped away.

"I Killed him", I whispered to no one in particular.


	3. It's Not That Big a Deal

**It's Not That Big a Deal**

I could barely drive , because I was shaking so badly. I must have driven around for an hour before I saw a hospital. I decided to go in and ask how to get back to Trenton, because I had no idea where the hell I was. Maybe I would get checked out while I was there , maybe. I walked in and headed to the nurses station , a woman in scrubs stared at me in horror.

"Head trauma", she said you need to come with me now.

I was escorted back to a room with a curtain and a small gurney. Nervously I waited wanting nothing more than to just get up and bolt. It was just a small tussle , how bad could I be? I was not waiting long before a doctor came in, he took out a small penlight and shined it in my eyes. I squinted in pain. The doctor touched the side of my face were I had been backhanded with the gun. I winched in pain , then his hand went higher and I realized that I had blood seeping high up from my forehead.

"You're going to need stitches to close this", the doctor informed me. "Let's get her in to gown", the doctor said to the nurse.

 _No , I didn't need gown, just stitch me up, and let me be on my way._

I sat there stunned not knowing quite how to react. I had not felt the pain though the adrenalin rush. Now my brain and body were beginning to settle. I slowly took my dress off, or what was left of it. I heard the nurse gasp when my body became visible. I looked down, and I was covered with bruises. My arms ,legs, stomach, chest ,all covered in awful large dark blue and purple marks. My hands and knees burned from being pulled across the ground. I put my arms though the sleeves on the gown ,and the nurse reached behind me to help fasten the tie.

 _Just bruises I reassured myself , I had been bruised before._

The nurse walked behind me opened the gown and shook her head.

"Wait here" she said , then returned with another doctor.

I did a mental eye roll as I thought, _These people are way overreacting._

The Doctor examined the large gash that had opened up on my back when I fell on the glass bottle.

"What happened to you" ,the doctor ask sympathetically , his eyes overflowing with concern.

"Worst date ever", I reply.

"Do we need to get the police down here", I was ask.

"No" ,I said frantically shaking my head.

After I was done being poked and prodded ,both laceration were sutured. The gash on my head needed 12 stitches, and the one on my back other thirty. I was x-rayed and given a CT scan for my head. I had a hair line fracture to my orbital socket, and several fractured ribs. There is not much that they could to for those , they would need heal on their own in about six week with rest. I was given a prescription for pain killers and antibiotics. They wanted to admit me for twenty- four hours, because the doctor suspected I may have had a mild concussion, but I refused and left AMA. I could not help it, I hate hospital. Besides It 's not like this first time I had been knock around ,right , no big deal.

As I walked out of the hospital I saw it was morning. My eyes squinted to adjust to the day light. I got to my car, when I tried to put the key in the ignition my hands were shaking too badly. Get it together Steph, it not that bad I told myself. The drive from North Jersey went pretty smooth, there was not much traffic on an early Saturday morning. I drove past my complex, not wanting to go home yet. I was wearing a pair of scrubs from the hospital and my blue satin stilettos. I knew my hair had to be a mess, and I was not ready to face my neighbors. I pulled in to Joe's garage to hide my car , and then let myself in the back door. As half I limped though the back door , Bob came running toward me. I grabbed the leash hanging from the wall and clipped it on, then walked Bob around the back yard. Bob peed a river and ran behind the garage to finish up ,and went back inside. I filled Bob's bowl with fresh water and doggy chow ,then went upstairs to take a shower. After stripping off the scrubs, and leaving them behind on the floor , I got into the shower. I stayed there until the water ran cold ,and my skin was water logged. As I grabbed a towel , I looked myself over in the mirror. My face was bruised , one of my eyes was swelling shut and my lip was split at the Conner. I had an even row of stitches high up on my forehead as I lowered my head I could see a bald spot where Yuri had violently torn out the locks. On my neck I wore the large mans hand print in black and blue. I looked down at my side and traced the shoe prints with my finger. Could be worst I told myself. I was going to have to lay low until some of this cleared up. Thank goodness I had no skips to catch. I could dodge the office for a few days. I got in to Morelli's bed after pulling on one of his T shirts , wrapped myself tightly in the blankets and fell fast asleep.

I woke up to Bob licking my face and whimpering. The sun had gone down , I looked at the clock and I had slept for ten hours. Why was I so tired ?, I got up pulled on a pair of Morelli's sweats and a baseball cap. I clipped a leash onto Bob and took him out for a walk. We came back , and I fed and watered Bob again. Joe's fridge was full, but I had no appetite.

 _How strange me Stephanie plum not wanting to eat, probably just over it did last night._ I scooped up my keys and was off to my apartment. None of my neighbors were out and about , so I was able to get to my apartment without anyone seeing me. Rex popped out of his soup can as I walked in to the kitchen.

"Sorry boy , I know your hungry" I said dropping some grapes in to his bowl. I went in to my bedroom packed a bag ,then scooped up Rex and was on my way back to Morelli's. His place was going to be my hide out for the next few days. I did not think I looked that bad, Rex and Bob were not freaking out , but hey some people are squeamish. It was not a big deal ,and I did not need anyone telling me it was.

When I got to Morelli's, I sat down in the den to watch television. Suddenly I was restless and could not sit still. My cell phone rang from the coffee table and I almost jumped out of my skin. I hit ignore without bothering to see who was calling , then got up to look in the fridge. Surveying the contents , I closed the door , still not hungry. I looked at the clock and it was almost midnight and I was wide awake, maybe if I took Bob for a walk it would help me wind down. After clipping on Bob's leash he gave me a " do you know what time it is" look. I pulled him out the front door and we were trotting a leisurely pace. After about two hours of walking, I was still every bit as wired, but I headed back to house anyway. About a block from the house Bob spotted an opossum and took off in chase at full speed dragging me behind. I tripped over the curb crashing onto the grass. Great ! I thought as I carefully picked myself up from the ground. Good, no new damage I said as I stood up, then realized I was wrong. I felt a painful burn across my back. Damn it , the stitches, no it could not be , it was not that bad I said to myself.

"Bad Dog" I yelled at Bob as we entered the house, he whimpered and licked my hand. Rex stopped running on his wheel and stared at me and Bob with his tiny eyes.

I went back to the kitchen and made a grilled cheese sandwich. I took a pain killer and one of the antibiotics. After eating half of the grilled cheese sandwich , I was over it and gave the rest to Bob before heading off to bed suddenly feeling very tired.

I had felt like I could sleep forever but I was awakened early in the morning by a searing pain coming from my back , it felt like it was on fire. What was I going to do , then it came to me . An ice pack ,yes that would numb the pain. There was nothing else I could do , no way I was going back to the hospital. I swung my legs out of the bed and pain hit every part of my body. That fall I had taken with Bob must have been worse than I thought. Why else would I be in this much pain? I looked at the bed and saw blood. Putting my hand to my back, I checked to see how bad it was. Staring at the blood on my fingers I knew something was wrong.

"Great, just great" I said looking at my bloody hand. I pick up the phone and made a call. Bobby picked up on the first ring.

"Hey Bomber", he said cheerfully.

"Hey, I was taking Bob for a walked and he took me down and …..

"Let me guess you need me to take a look at you , big surprise" , he joked.

"Are you making fun of me Bobby?", I ask, smiling.

"You know it he laughed". "Do you want me to come to you or….."

"I'll meet you at Range man" , I said, cutting him off. I did not want anyone to know I was hiding at Joe's.

After taking a shower, I checked myself out in the mirror, my eye was far less swollen, but the rest had not gotten much better. I pulled on a pair of loose jeans and loose long sleeve Henley. I threw my hair into a pony tail and pulled a baseball cap low on my head and finished off the look with a pair of sunglasses.

I got in to the car and again my hands were shaking, what was wrong with me , maybe it was the pills the doctor gave me ,yeah that must be it.

When I got to Range man , I parked. I kept my head low as I excited the car and then entered the building. Thank goodness I did not run into anyone on the elevator or in the hallway. I knocked and Bobby seemed to take forever to open the door , I hated being in the hallway for so long.

He looked down at me , and said 'Running from the law "?

"Just a bad hair day", I lied.

" You know the way", he told me, pointing to his small exam room.

I went in and he followed behind me. I stared at the floor for a few seconds.

"Talk to me", he said.

Wordlessly I turned around ,and then raised as little of my shirt as possible.

"Stitched huh , when did this happen,?", he ask.

"The stitches a few nights ago, the fall with Bob last night , how bad is it ?", I quizzed.

"You ripped about half of your stitches out, and I am going have to do the whole thing again".

I groaned loudly

"Take off your shirt and get comfortable, this is going to take a while", Bobby said as he gathered his supplies.

"Oh boy" ,I sighed. "DON'T freak out" I warned , as I removed my shirt turned, my back to him in an attempt to hide the front of my body, before laying face down.

"I am a professional I don't freak-out", he said as turned to tend to my stitches.

He gave me a shot to numb the area before getting started. Before it took effect, I felt Bobby gently run his hand down the side of my broken ribs, I released a painful gasp. Bobby waited a few minutes , and then went to work in silence. I could hear him behind me breathing rhythmically.

"Bobby"?

"Not now I 'm concentrating", he said tensely.

When he finished , he quietly cleaned up his supplies , threw his gloves away , and washed his hands. Bobby Leaned back against the counter, and stared at me raising an eyebrow.

"You can get up now", he said quietly.

"My shirt please" ,I said , with smirk trying to lighten the mood.

"This shirt" he said , holding it out of my reach. "You can come get right" ?

"Bobby"

"Stephanie"

He stood there with his arms folded across his chest ,my shirt clutched in his hand. I got up with my back still turned toward him, and reached behind me for my shirt.

"Turn around Steph", he said gently , please.

I did what he ask , I stood there fidgeting as he walked over to me, and remove my hat and sunglasses. Bobby stepped back, and I watched him as his eyes took in my injured body. His hand went to my chin and lifted it as he examined the stitches on my forehead. His eyes were filled with a combination of horror and sadness.

I pulled away from him snatching my shirt from his hand and quickly threw it on over my head.

"What , it not that bad, I know you have seen worse", I defended.

"Steph ,what happened to you", he said quietly.

"Bobby relax lighten up ,you know I am accident - prone. Don't go getting all serious on me" , I teased.

"What happened to you", he repeated.

"Tripped, fell down the stairs to my building" ,I lied.

"Thought we were friends Bomber", he said.

"We are Bobby"

"Friends don't lie to each other, you can talk to me. What …, who did this to you?", he ask.

"There is nothing to talk about, it's not a big deal , you are over reacting Bobby", I said , walking out the door grabbing my keys.

" Stephanie sit down, talk to me , you can trust me"

I paused at the front door looked at Bobby, and thought about telling him. Then everything was a blur , I did not know where to start , my mind did not want to bring up the details. Part of me wanted to tell someone, to let this go. Then another part of me shut down , blocked it out, and told me there was nothing important to say. Whatever had happened, really was not that big a deal .

"It's Okay Bobby no need to worry". I put my hat and glasses on and ran out of there, down the stairwell and back to my car as fast as I could. As I went to put the key in the ignition my hands began to shake to again. Stupid hands , stupid medicine. I retrieved my cell phone from my purse.

"Yes Stephanie", Bobby said.

"You're not going to tell Ranger about this are you" I really is not that big a deal, nothing to tell right".

"Steph , you know better to than to even ask me that question", he sighed.

"So is that a yes or a no Bobby?", I ask.

"Well since there is nothing really to tell, why worry about it _right",_ he said in annoyed voice, and then hung up on me."

 _RUDE , what is his deal ?_


	4. Just Leave Me Alone

**Just Leave me alone**

Me, Bob and Rex where sitting on the couch watching a movie when my phone dinged with a text message alert. I disregarded it. The phone soon ,dinged again , then again. After ignoring it for five minutes my phone started to ring loudly. What , I said as I accepted the call.

"Hey beautiful", Lester half sang in to the phone.

"Hi Lester, what can I do for you", I ask cautiously, not knowing what Bobby had told him.

" No one has seen much of you since Ranger went out of town on business, and you had that very public break up with Morelli. Just wanted to make sure you were not sitting around eating Ben and Jerry's, and moping.", he teased.

"Wow, you really know how to make a girl feel good Les", I joked.

"So I have been told".

"Santos you are too much" ,I said laughing.

"Come on gorgeous, there is no such thing as too much Lester. The guys and I are going to Pino's tonight and we wanted to know if the Range Man Barbie would like to join us", he chuckled.

"No Les , not tonight ,I am really in to this movie I am watching, some other time Okay", I told him.

"So you are going to disappoint us to watch a movie" , Lester said with mock sadness.

"Sorry", I chimed playfully.

"I could bring you something by later then",he offered.

"No thanks, I said , I am not hungry"

"Wow, hold on a minute while I check to make sure I dialed the right number. Those are words that don' t come out of your mouth Steph."

" Believe it", I said. Now if you don't mind , I would like to get back to my movie"

" By beautiful", he said as he ended that call.

"Nice try Bobby , I said out loud , not falling for that one ."

I planned to stay in this house until these bruises faded ,and my body was less sore. Yesterday Tank had called and ask if I had some free time to help out at Range Man. They were supposedly overwhelmed with searches needing to be done. So many had come in that, the new guy was having trouble keeping up. Tank has never called me for any reason. I told him I could not , that I helping Mary Lou out because she was have a mommy melt down.

I pushed myself off the couch and winced in pain. Dragging my sore body into the kitchen, I went to the table took a pain killer and an antibiotic from the prescription bottle. I silently debated if I wanted to take them because they had to be messing with me. The shaky hands, and the restlessness I now felt, and those weird dreams that I could not remember. The pain won out, and I swallow the two pills , then realized that I had not eaten anything today. I pulled a single serve macaroni and cheese from the freezer and popped it into the microwave. Minutes later it was ready ,and I sat there picking at it with the spoon. I scooped a few spoonfuls into my mouth and then took a few noodles and dropped them in to Rex's bowl. After placing the plastic container on the floor , I called Bob into the kitchen to eat the rest. Opening the freezer I scanned the contents and then grabbed a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Laughing as I opened it , I thought about what Lester had said earlier. I spooned the ice cream into my mouth. I took a few more scoops , and then returned the carton back to the freezer. The ice cream just was not giving that same instant happy feeling tonight. For some reason, I was feeling a little off tonight ,could be just PSM.

After watching movies until late into the night , better yet the early morning , I still could not sleep. It was too late to drag Bob out so I just went to bed. I tossed and turned until sunrise and then finally fell asleep.

I was jarred awake by the sound of my cell phone. Hello I said half awake.

"Stephanie It's Friday and Vinnie said you need to get your butt in here today , we got a few new skips for you to round up." Connie chirped though the phone.

"Why won't people just leave me alone", I groaned as I got out of bed and my body painfully protested. While toweling myself off after a shower, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I was going to have to use my best Jersey girl make-up tricks to cover what was left of the now ugly green and yellow bruises on my face and neck. The spot where my hair had been torn from my scalp needed to be covered. I chose an easy but sophisticated looking top knot style I found on Pinterest. It worked but there was still the stitches on my forehead. What was I going to do about them ? I ran down stairs to Joe's kitchen and grabbed a pair of scissors. With the aid of a comb, hair dryer a round brush, some mousse and the scissors, I now had bangs that looked pretty good.

I grabbed my bag , cell phone and keys, then I was out the door. As I sat in the drivers seat I had to two hand the key to keep my hands steady enough to get it in the ignition. This was starting to become a problem.

" Bout time", Vinnie yelled from his office. "Where you been on vacation?" he said, as I walked into the office.

" Don't start Vinnie , Just leave me alone. I took a week off, not really that big a deal" , I said.

Connie handed me the folders with the new FTA cases,and I stood flipping though them.

"The wizard is back", she informed me.

I nodded, my expression not changing. _That is just what I did not need Ranger with his Spidey Senses and eagle eye. Prefect timing, I am going to have to keep my distance from him._

"Bet she already knows", Lula said, as she came though the door with the pink bakery box filled with donuts. "He probably sent out the Bat signal to her when he landed last night", she joked.

I flopped down on the ugly brown couch, and hoped no one heard the small yelp of pain that escaped as my ribs hit a little too hard. Lula came over and sat next to me , opened the box of donuts, and handed me a napkin. I peaked in the box and a wave of nausea hit me when I looked at the donuts. I glanced at Lula, and shook my head.

"No not now , I am full , I had a really big breakfast", I lied.

"White girl your skinny butt always has room for Boston creams", Lula laughed, as she pushed the donuts in my lap.

"I am good , maybe later", I said, pushing the box back to her.

Lula looked at Connie , and they exchanged shocked looks then, Vinnie suck his head out from his office.

"What , Stephanie Plum turning down donuts ,what's the matter your jeans don't fit."

I rolled my eyes ,and let out a loud grunt.

"So what , it's not a big deal, just leave me alone", I muttered.

I glanced up and Ranger was standing in front of me.

"Babe , those things will kill you", he said, looking at the donuts.

Lula and Connie giggled.

Ranger stood in front of me , and dropped a news paper in to my lap , the society page. I looked it over , and felt horror as my stomach did back flips.

I saw the picture, and It was a photograph of Yuri feeding me that mini donut.

The headline read " Bombshell Bounty Hunter gets Cozy with Ex NFL player turned wealthy business man."


	5. Skip chasing

**Chasing Skips**

I sat staring at the news paper in my lap. The image of a the nickle plated pearl handled pistol flashed though my mind and I could hear the gun shot in my ears , then a voice in my head whispered _I killed him._

"Earth to Babe" Ranger said.

"You just got back in town and found this already , I did not even know this article existed" I told Ranger as I stood up.

I examined the file on top and Ranger read over my shoulder.

"Want to take a ride?" he said more a statement than a question.

I spun around and raised an eyebrow

" I know where to find your skip" Ranger told me

"Alright I'm game" I said snatching my bag off Connie's desk. As I walked out of the door, Ranger tried to place his hand on the small of my back and I side stepped him playfully.

"Playing hard to get" Ranger said as he opened the passenger door to the Cayenne.

"Something like that" I teased as Ranger slid into the driver's seat next to me. In reality , I was just trying to keep his hands off the stitches in back. In an attempt to both avoid pain and keep Ranger from finding out about the injury , then making it his business to know what and how it happened.

"Stopped by to see you when I got in last night, you were not at home." Ranger told me casually.

"Don't supposed you knocked" I said ," guess you went though the trouble of picking the locks for no reason." I laughed . "Didn't you see my car was not in the parking lot"?

"Figured you had blown it up by now". "Where Rex "? Ranger ask

"He needed a change of venue for awhile" I said vaguely.

"Where did you sleep last night" Ranger ask , his voice was matter of fact with a small hint of curiosity slipping though.

"That is a question that should come from a man with a commitment, not just a condom" I said flatly. I saw Ranger's eye twitch ever so slightly and could not help but wonder what he was thinking.

I leaned back in to the seat, and then I realized that Ranger had set me up.

" So how long after we left did it take Hector show up to install the GPS on my car" I ask giving Ranger the side eye"

"Babe" he said

We pulled up to a baseball field where the local amateur league played. Ranger pointed at a guy in the dug out .

"There is your man, he has one mean pitching arm.

I got out of the car and Ranger was soon following behind me. I turned to face him.

"Don't do that" I told Ranger quietly"

"What" he replied

"I am a big girl, I can handle this, no need to hold my hand."

"Okay, I'll stay here but if you need me …."

"I know " I said cutting him off

"Wallace Martin" , I said to the man now standing on the mound warming up his pitching arm.

He nodded "what can I do for you"?

Taking a couple of steps closer placing myself a few feet in front of him. I said "Bond enforcement, you missed your court date and you need to go reschedule".

"Lady we are in the semi finals tonight and I am not going anywhere" , then he pitched a fast ball right at my head .

"Hey" I screamed as I ducked the ball "not cool".

"Go back to where you came from lady" Wallace threaten before sending a another ball in my direction.

This time I had to bend over to avoid being hit . When I came back up, I had a bat he did not see before I drove it home into his nuts . This man was pissing me off , I did not come here to play dodge ball.

"Geezzes lady Geezeeeeeeeeeee" Wallace howled as he went down to his knees.

I walked behind him and placed the cuffs on his wrist.

" Get up "

"Are you kidding me lady, I won't be able to walk for a week after what you just did to my nuts" he croaked.

"You see that man over there , I said glancing at Ranger , if you don't get up and walk to the car on your own , I am going to have to ask him to help you and that won't make either one of us happy." I warned

Wallace got to his feet and slowly walked back to the Cayenne with me.

"That was fast" Ranger said as he pushed Wallace into the car.

Before I got back in to the car I noticed someone over next to the stands.

"Isn't that Lamar Johnston ?"I ask Ranger

"You mean your booster"

"Yeah that is Johnston he boost snacks and drinks from Costco then sells them at the game. You going to go knock him in the nuts too?" Wallace ask from the back seat.

"Only if he is planning on throwing fast balls at my head." I said looking at Wallace

He was wearing my only pair of cuffs and I did not want to let Johnston get away.

"You have a pair of cuffs on you " I ask Ranger. He gave me a look that said _(you just like asking stupid questions , right)_ before reaching under his jacket and handing me the cuffs.

Making my way over to Lamar's bootleg concession stand, I stood back for awhile and watched. A lady walked up and ordered a sandwich , an orange creamsicle and a bottle of water. Lamar took the cash and then loaded up his hands to give the woman her purchases. When he reached out with both hands full, I was able to slap the cuffs on him with no problem.

"What the"? Lamar muttered

The customer snatched her order and left.

" Lamar you missed your court date, now you have to come with me to rescheduled" I said.

"What about my merchandise" he complained

"You stole it" Lamar

For a minute he looked like he wanted to run.

"If you run , I'm going to have to use the stun gun on you , I am not in the mood to chase anyone". I threatened. He shrugged his shoulders and walked to the car willingly.

"A two for one , now you're just showing off" Ranger teased as he placed Johnston on the other side of the back seat.

"If you see any more of your skips , you are going to have to wait , we are not strapping anyone to the roof." Ranger told me.

After we had turned in the two skips , Ranger read a text message from his phone.

"Hey I have to run to Range Man for a minute , then we can get back out there and look for your other two skips' He said

We pulled in to Ranger's space and he angled out of the car. I did not move.

He looked over at me.

"You coming" he said raising an eyebrow.

"I would rather wait here if you don't mind"

He closed the door and went into the building. I was glad for the tinted windows, if any Range men came by no one would know I was in the car. While Ranger was in the building Connie sent me a Text that said Sam Dennis was spotted a career fair over at the local community center.

When Ranger returned to the car, I let him know what Connie said. We headed over to the community center. I quickly located Dennis interviewing for a position in a high school cafeteria. I walked over to Dennis and whispered in his hear.

"Do they know you're a peeping Tom that went FTA". "Come with me I won't announce it." He turn white and quickly stood up then followed behind me.

When we got to the doorway I cuffed him.

After taking Dennis to the police station I Looked over at Ranger and said.

"Ranger I'm sure you have better things to do , You can take me back the bond office and I can do this last one on my own. He is easy, I have picked him up before." I explained

"I don't mind ,I am getting a kick out of watching you work , you are in the zone today". He said.

After I had taken in all four my skips , It was late in to the night , I looked over at ranger and ask

"Why are you doing this today ?"

"What" he ask

"You know what, I am sure you had something that was way more fun that you could have been doing besides riding around with me all day."

"Maybe I was hoping for some excitement , to see something blow up, not like I missed you or anything" Ranger said in a dry tone.

Ranger pulled in next to my car , then leaned over and kissed me slowly. I opened the door and got in to my car and drove back to Joe's house to tidy up , pick up Rex and collect the rest of my things. Then I was off to sleep in my own bed.

The next morning I got up and went though the new hair and make up routine , got dressed and went down to my car. I sat in the drivers seat and once again the thing with the hands. I had to get over this it was no big , I was fine.

* * *

I walked in to the bond office the next day and handed Connie the body receipts, she looked at me in shock.

"You picked them _all_ up yesterday" she ask

"With the Wizard's help" Lula interrupted.

"Nope , Ranger stayed in the car, I did not need his help". I bragged

"We got no more skips Connie said , who would have thought you could round them up in one day"?

"I can help you with your filing Lula I said. As long as I am here , I have nothing else to do. "

"Oh yes you do girlfriend ,you can tell us about that fine man that had you eating out of his hand "Lula said

A chill ran down my spine" there .. there is nothing to tell it was one night we ,we talked, we ate ,we danced that's all" I said under my breath.

"So you didn't get his phone number Steph, you just let a man that sexy just walk out the door." Connie chimed in.

"I don't believe her, I think that man is the reason for all this new hotness Stephanie" has going on . "New make up, new hair , new man."

 _Wow, Lula was right ,Yuri was the reason for the new hair and makeup._

"Not true , I protested ,stop it you two just leave me alone."

An hour later I was helping Lula with the filing. I was doing a delicate dance of balancing myself on a slightly open bottom draw and reaching in the draw at the very top when Ranger came in. I heard him ask Connie for something and she told him it was in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. Then he walked over to where I was perched and pressed his body in to mine and reached over my head to retrieve his file. Instinctively, I leaned forward to protect my battered body. The slight motion was enough to have the bottom draw slip out from under my feet. My body was painfully slammed in to the front of the filing cabinet with Ranges 's pressing into me from behind. He quickly jumped back when he realized what had happened. I stood there silently counting to ten in my head. I felt my face burn with angry.

I turned around and narrowed my eyes at Ranger.

"It was an accident Babe "

"Wait your damn turn next time I snarled "at him with my fist clenched.

"Babe" "Bad day?" Ranger ask with eyebrows raised

"Bad manners , jerk" I growled

I quickly stormed off to the bathroom slamming and locking the door behind me.

I whimpered in pain and rubbed my side . No tears ,Steph , no tears, can't ruin your makeup I told myself. I continues to sit there and rub my sore ribs and gasp for breath. Lula came knocking on the door.

" Stephanie you been in there for along time, You alright girl"

"Go away I'm fine I want to be alone."

Not long after she left I heard Connie calling me ,I sat there in silence. The pain had finally started to let up When I heard Ranger at the door.

"Babe if you don't open the door, I am going to come in anyway"

"Just leave me alone" I huffed.

I knew he would come in if I did not come out , so I pulled down my shirt stood up and open the door. Ranger was resting against the door frame, blocking my exit. I looked up at him and our eyes locked, both of us stood there silently eyeing one another and even though no words were spoken the communication was clear.


	6. That's Not My Babe

_I decided to try something a bit different here. I wanted to know what Ranger would be thinking if he were to come back and find Stephanie behaving oddly. How might he react? Would he ignore it, try to get to the cause of her actions or sit back and wait for her to tell him. When he finally discovers her injuries what would his emotions be. This chapter is Written from Ranger's point of view I am not sure if to works or not. Do you like this. or does it interrupt the flow of the story, let me know what you think ._

* * *

She was behaving strangely even for Stephanie. After she had spent the last 45 minutes in the bathroom refusing to come out , I knew it was time to do something. If she did not open that damn door I was coming in like it or not!

"Babe, if you don't open the door, I am going to come in anyway" I warned her.

She took awhile , but finally opened the door. She looked up to see me firmly planted against the door frame. Her eyes screamed "you can't make me", and mine replied "don't even try It." Resign washed over her face , and her body slouched. I backed up and motioned for her to step out. This woman could be so very stubborn and I was not in the mood for it. I grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her towards me.

"Outside" I told here.

She rolled her eyes at me , and pushed the front door open so hard it crashed it to the side of the building with a loud thud. Lula and Connie's eyes went wide.

"Who pissed in her Cheerios?", Connie ask.

Stephanie stood there hugging her body, looking at me ,eyes darting toward her car, feet shuffling.

"I wouldn't if I were you , that would be pointless, I would have you in less than a yard , and it will just piss me off". I warned as I read her mind, knowing that she was planning on making a run for it.

"Well ,we don't want to piss Batman off do we?", she said,

"Get in the car Stephanie, now", I demanded.

"Bite me Ranger" , she countered.

I stepped in close to her, and whispered into her ear.

"Kinky huh, I can do that later, but first you have to get in the car Babe."

I watched her face as it turned bight red ,and she struggled to keep the corners of her mouth from forming a hint of a smile. After I opened the passenger door to the turbo for her, she reluctantly got in and fastened the seat belt.

"Bad day?", I questioned.

"If by bad day ,you mean having my tits slammed in to a metal filing cabinets, and then crushed by under the weight of a Gargantuan , then yes", she said.

"Wow this is a first , never had a woman complain about being under me before", I teased.

"You are so full of yourself ", she said with a smirk.

She had set herself up for me to make sleazy remark , but I held back and gave her a look.

"What?", she ask.

"To easy ",I replied.

I drove around for more than an hour , and she was silent for most of the ride. I had never seen Babe so quiet ever. I pulled in to Pino's, thinking maybe if I fed her she would perk up. We sat down in a booth and ordered. I watched her as food was sat down in front of her and she and leaned back and stared at it as if someone has place a cross word puzzle in her lap.

Something was defiantly wrong. Stephanie loved to eat , and she was picking at her food. This was not normal. _What's wrong with my Babe?_

"You're very quiet today, anything wrong?", I ask.

"Just full of questions today, aren't you?", was her answer.

"And you seem to be dodging them the way you were fast balls yesterday.", I told her.

She took a bite of her meatball sub and looked like she wanted to be sick. I watched her pick at her fries as I finished my meal ,then Babe ask for a to go box.

I heard her phone buzz , and she took it from her pocket to read a Text message.

"We better get back, Connie said she has several new skips for both of us", Babe informed me.

Now she was in a hurry to get back to the office ,who was this person, and what had she done with Stephanie Plum ?

After we got in the car, I looked over at her.

"Last chance,you want to talk about it?", I suggested.

"Nothing to talk about", she replied.

"Babe"

"Ranger"

I let out a frustrated groan, and suppressed the urge to handcuff her to the console until she felt chatty.

When I pulled up to the bonds office , she was out of the door before I even had a chance to put the car in park. This woman was going to make me strangle her.

Stephanie was already looking over the files Connie had given her when I walked in. She looked at the folder on top and then tossed it back at Connie

"Did you mean to give me this one?", she inquired.

"Yeah , your others are pretty simple, and there are only 5 counting that one. "Ranger has way more, so I passed it over to you", Connie said as she painted her nails.

"No", she said firmly, and stormed out the door.

I had never seen Stephanie turn down a skip ,Yeah she was really on one today.

I picked the file up and read it , Connie had to be out of her mind. This man was a third time felon, wanted for aggravated sexual assault and attempted murder, and known to be armed and dangerous. I shot Connie a look , then went after Stephanie.

"Come on Babe, we made a pretty good team yesterday , lets see if we can do better today."

"No thanks , I don't mind riding solo today", she said.

Something was not right about her, and she was hiding something from me. I was not going to let her out of my sight until I knew what it was .

I opened the passenger side door and looked at her. She stared back hard at first , then got in and fastened her seat belt. We drove to Rage man and traded in the turbo for the Cayenne.

"Who's up first I ask" ?

"Myron Richards " she answered.

That is an easy one, Myron a was wiry little lunatic who got off stealing packages from peoples door steps.

We pulled up to Myron's house, he had his curtains open, and was sitting on the couch in a dirty Tee shirt and his tidy whities. Stephanie got out of the car and banged on the door with her fist.

"Bond enforcement", she yelled.

Myron came to the door "Just let me put some pants on" , he said pointing to his bedroom.

Stephanie grabbed his arm, twisted it painfully behind his back, and cuffed him.

"Yeah right, I'm so sick of that one. You go to put on some pants, and I end up chasing you out the back door , not in the mood today ", She said coldly.

"You can't take me to jail in my skivvies" , he protested.

"Wanna bet" ,she said flatly.

I stared at her in shock , she was serious , Myron was going to jail in his tidy whities.

"That's cold Steph , I can keep an eye on him while you go get him some pants", I offered.

"Hey, let him walk though central booking in his under pants, not my problem, he should have gone to court", She muttered.

I stared at her in disbelief , this was harsh, especial for Stephanie Plum.

"What !", she snapped.

I opened the door, and Steph shoved Myron in hard.

We took poor Myron to the cop shop and then went find my Skip.

The next skip was mine, Mario Hawkins was a member of a local biker gang. He was wanted for assault with a deadly weapon after beating a guy unconscious with a bar stool during a fight. Hawkins was 6'2 and sold muscle, when cornered he liked to run. As I knocked on the door, I had Stephanie stand off to the side. I figured Hawkins would race out of the back door and I would go after him. She could stand look out if he made it around to the other side of the house.

"Bond enforcement" I yelled after knocking on the door.

He opened the door looked at me, ran towards the back door, jumped the sofa , made a loop and doubled back ,then bolted though the front door. Hawkins clipped Stephanie's shoulder on the way out , slamming her back hard against the porch railing. Her brows knitted together as she howled in pain and then stuck her foot out to trip him. Hawkins tumbled ass over ears down the stairs , and landed hard on the concrete. He was dazed from the fall, and struggled to make it to his feet unsuccessfully. I stood in the doorway and looked at Babe with a mixture of amusement and pride. That ended quickly when she stormed off the porch, then proceeded to furiously kick Hawkins in cojones. Stephanie let out a string of words Burgs girls are not supposed to know , and then kicked him in the face ,he roared in pain as blood poured from his nose. She delivered another sharp kick to Hawkin's gut before I could get her. I lifted her off the ground by her waist to prevent any more assults she had planned.

"Put me down !", she screamed. Steph was struggling to get back to Hawkins as she continued to kick wildly. She was out of control. _Yeah she was going to have to give me some answers._

"If you kick ,me, we are going to have a problem", I growled at her.

"PUT ME DOWN !" she demanded. I saw fire in her eyes as she said it.

I put her down , and she glared at Hawkins as she rubbed her back. Her eyes were blazing with rage , still looking like she wanted to fight. I grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her to the passengers side door and pushed her into the car.

"Don't get out", I barked.

I picked Hawkins up, and looked the man over after cuffing him , I shook my head as I saw the damage she had done.

I called tank to arrange a pick up for Hawkins, I was done for the day , there was no way I was could trust Babe to behave. Whatever problem she had, was affecting her work.

Tank pulled up , and I walked Hawkins over to the SUV handing him off.

"Ranger you can't keep roughing up the merchandise like this, people are going to start asking questions", Tank said shaking his head.

"I didn't do this, Stephanie did", I told Tank.

Tank let out a huge baritone belly laugh, slid in to the drives seat , and motored away.

"What the hell was that ?", I ask as I angled in to the car.

"This silent treatment is getting old Babe". "Talk", I barked.

"So I got a little up set , I am sick of being knocked around by men!", She defended.

"That's what you call upset, If I had not stepped in , you would had kicked the shit out his ass", I told her.

"What's going on with you Stephanie , you have been really aggressive today".

A call from Les Sebring interrupted our conversation. He needed me to come in as soon as possible. There was a high level bond that needed to found. I agreed to come right over. I looked at Stephanie ,and decided I would hold on to her. I was not done with her, and If I took her home or back to the bonds office ,I would have to track her down later. She would be playing hide and seek, and I was in no mood for games. I did not want to bother with the hassle.

We sat down in Sebring's office , he looked at us and smiled.

"Thank you for coming right away. I want to get this taken care of quickly, before it hit's the media that he has jumped bail, Sebring said. He is a high profile defendant, the original case was kept pretty quiet , but if he is not brought in soon, the press is going to be all over this."

"And you're afraid if the press finds out ,he will run even harder", I said to Sebring.

"Exactly, he has the money and connections to just disappear. At the time when I bonded him out, his passport had to be surrendered to the court , but that won't stop him from hiding in one of his export shipping crates. I honesty thought her would show up to court, because no one has ever testified against him. Now I find out he has Eastern European mafia connections. If he is not found, I am out 1.5 million", Sebring finished.

I will get my men on it right away", I said.

We got in the car , and I decided to have some fun with Steph.

"You are really taking this love of bad boys thing a bit too far ", I teased.

She gave me a quizzically look.

"Come on, Babe don't play innocent , where are you hiding that new man in your life?", I ask.

She narrowed her eyes at me, indicating that for once she was not feeling playful.

"Our new FTA is no other than your new admirer Yuri Kuzma " , I told her.

All the color drained from her face.

"Pull over , Ranger , Pull over!", she ordered.

I found a clear spot ,and stopped the car. Her hands fumbled with the seat belt, and then she shot me a panicked looked. I reached over and unfastened her seatbelt. Babe threw open the door, stumbled out to her knees ,and puked. I got out and walked around to help her up, before I could, she sprang to her feet ,and screamed " don't 'touch me "! I threw my hands up in surrender , and took a few steps back.

I watched her get back in the car, she pull a napkin, a bottle of water from her purse and cleaned herself up before popping a mint.

She reached for the folder ,and I noticed her hands were shaking violently. The hair stood up on the back of my neck, and fear for her gripped me. _What wrong with my Babe?_

I fought the urge to take her into my arms to comfort her because of the out burst she just had outside the car. I opened the folder and gave her a summery.

"Seems he is wanted for aggravated felony assault and attempted murder with a deadly weapon. He walked in to a fitness center and beat the hell out of man with a dumbbell while screaming "I told you not to touch my things , I never share my things." He walked out and no one tried to stop him", I told her and then showed her his mug shot.

She put on her best poker face , and I could not guess what was going on in her mind. As we drove she remained silent, and it was driving me nuts , now I know how she felt when I did the same thing. I kept driving to clear my head and in hopes that she would tell me what her problem was . After about 20 minutes she looked up from her lap at me.

"Ranger you're not going to find this guy ,there is no point in looking." She quietly informed me .

"What makes you so sure?" I ask.

I watched her as we sat at the light, her eyes went back to her lap , and I saw her body start to tremble.

"Because I killed him", she blurted out.

A dull ache shot into my forehead, shock exploded though me, and my foot left brake and hit the gas without my permission. The car sped though the red light , before I quickly regained control of both the vehicle and myself.

I pulled into the bond office parking lot , and tuned the ignition off.

"You want to run that by me again?", I said.

"You heard me the first time ,I don't need to say it again", she whispered.

"Talk Stephanie"

"I had too, he was trying to kidnap me" , Stephanie revealed.

"Explain"

"He wanted force me into a car. I knew better than to let that happen. After a brief scuffle ,I broke free, and he pulled out a gun. I picked up a huge rock, hit him in the head. When he realized he was losing, he pointed the gun against my body , and we tussled , then he was shot. He fell in to the Delaware and never surfaced", She said calmly.

"What else Stephanie?", I ask impatiently.

So this was it ,what had been bothering her , the reason her behavior was out of character today. Finally with her confession it all made sense. What did not make sense, was how she told the story. Why the hell was she at the Delaware with this man. What was with this obviously abbreviated version of the story, and which crucial details had she omitted. When was she going to learn to skip to the chase, and be straight with me. She had no idea how frustrating she could be.

"Nothing else to tell that's worth mentioning", She told me.

I exhaled ,and gripped the stirring wheel to keep hold of my temper.

"Ranger I'm tired , I just want to go home take a shower ,and crawl in to bed", she said in a pleading voice.

The look in her eyes was painful and my heart soften , I'd let it go until it , this woman had me wrapped around her finger.

"Okay Babe, but we will talk tomorrow".

"Good night Ranger", she yawned and kissed me on the cheek.

I watched her get in to her car and drive away.

When she was out of sight, I let out a loud angry roar. I looked on the floor of the passengers side, and realized that Babe had left her purse in my car. I needed to get it to her, so she did not freak out.

* * *

After letting myself into to Babes apartment I quietly went to her bedroom to find her. I wrapped on the door softly and then entered. She was standing there in a sexy pair of boy short panties and matching bra. I could not take my eyes off of her ,but not for the usual reasons. She had her back turned to me, and I could see dozens of stitches running across the small of he back. She turned around startled to see me, and read the look in my eyes.

"Don't start !", she said.

I shook my head at her, "Kuzma?", I growled.

She nodded.

Stephanie's body told a story of a night that must have been filled with terror. Her arms and neck wore bruises that were now an awful shade of yellow and green. Her ribs were still black and blue, there were shoe marks imprinted on the skin ,and they appeared to be painful swollen. I stepped closer to her, and she backed up. I could see the shiner that was healing as well as some other facial bruising. Instantly I was filled with rage , if she had not already killed the man, I would have been out looking for him. By the time I finished with him, he would have been begging to be put out of his misery. I was more than irritated with Stephanie, she had been hiding this from me and working pretty damn hard to do so. Worry flooded my mind as I wonder exactly what had happened that night she had killed Kuzma .

"Babe"?

She remained silent.

"Stephanie"?!

"What Ranger,What?", she replied, raising her voice.

"I can't believe you were out chasing skips like this ! ", I roared.

" I'm fine", she insisted.

"This is what you call a tussle, a brief struggle?", I said with a dangerous edge to my voice.

She flinched , and then I saw defiance flare in her eyes "It' not a big deal" , she said , eyes narrowing, fist clinching.

"You can trust me , you already know that, so just talk to me , tell me about it", I reasoned.

"I all ready told you. NOTHING to tell. SO NOT a big deal, stop making it one", she said her voice filled with hostility

This woman was had lost touch with reality , something horrific had happen to her. She had recently confessed to me that she had killed a man, and still it was no big deal. I had the urge to grab her by the shoulders and shake her out of the layers of denial she was buried under , but I knew that would not work. The harder I fought her on this, the more she would resist . She was in over her head , and had locked down a part of her mind then kept her life moving like everything was okay. She was not alright , not physically , not mentally, and not emotionally. I sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled Babe into my lap then wrapped my arms protectively around her.


	7. What about Yuri Kuzma

_Thank you to everyone for your feedback on the last chapter of this story. For those of you who enjoyed seeing things from Ranger,s point of view , you will get a chance to do so again, just not in this chapter._

* * *

Ranger pulled me into his lap and I felt warm and safe. I wanted to sit here relax and enjoy the comfort of his arms , but I could not. The tension in Ranger's rigid body was evident. I could feel his heart beating at an elevated rate, and the normal rhythmic pattern of his breathing had changed. I was stressing this man out and I hated it. His life was already hectic enough without having to worry about me. Despite what everyone believed , I did not enjoy the danger my job threw me into, or needing Ranger to come in and rescue me. How many times did Timmy fall into a well or get himself into trouble and then Lassie had to go get help , I had no desires to be Timmy , I bet Lassie got tired of Timmy. I did not get up looking for a stalker or a car to blow up so that Bat Man could put on his cape and save me. I loved this man with all my heart , so much so that I realized there was no room for Joe. No, I did not enjoy knowing Ranger was up set. Anger that would seem imperceptible to most, wafted from his body, I knew this man well and I felt it. I lifted my hand and caressed the silky hair that fell over his forehead trying to sooth him. Ranger ran a finger though my bangs and discovered the stitches hiding underneath. I felt his chest rise and tighten.

"What happened , how did you get these?", he ask quietly.

"Kuzma slapped me with a gun in hand", I answered carefully.

Ranger rested his chin on the top on my head , and I felt the muscle in his jaw twitch.

"Most people would call that being pistol whipped", Ranger exhaled.

After wrapping my other arm around his neck, I pulled myself closer to his chest. I inhaled the scent of his Bvlgari and listen to sound of his heart beat before I finally drifted off to sleep.

I work up the next morning felling refreshed for the first time in a week. I attempted to gently remove myself from Rangers arms without waking him. Ranger nuzzled my neck and pulled me closer.

"What's the rush it only 8:00 am ?", he said with a yawn.

"Then you should have been up a few hours ago", I teased.

"I was , made some phone calls and let you sleep", Rangers told me.

"Well as nice as this is, we both have things to do today ", I sighed as I got out bed.

" Yes , you are going to come with me to Range man and run a search on Kuzma. If he has Eastern European mafia connections , someone may be looking for him soon. The fact that you were the last one to see him alive is not a good thing. If the tide brings him in, people are going to start asking questions. Like why you didn't call the cops. If we can prove that you had good reason to be afraid , it will remove any doubt as to the reason you had to kill him, and why you did not report the incidents", Ranger explained.

"So what about the stack of skips , Vinnie is not going to be happy", I remind him.

" Already taken care of Babe , Its going to be a couple of weeks before you should healed and ready to start chasing skips again. In the mean time you can work over at Range man ", Ranger informed me.

I hated when he took over my life , and told me what I was going to do. I resisted the urge to argue with him because I felt guilty for adding yet a another reason for him to worry about me and increasing his already overflowing work load.

"So I guess I am wearing black today?", I said more as statement than question.

I went to the bathroom and did the whole hair and make up thing, then got dressed. Ranger pulled on his boots and we were off.

Once we arrived at Range man , we went to the kitchen for breakfast. Ella had prepared vegetable and cheese omelets along with fruit salad. I made a small plate and sat down in front of Ranger. I was not hungry, so I cut my omelet in to tiny pieces and slowly forked them in to my mouth. I noticed Ranger watching me , and there was an almost imperceptible furrow in his brow. He was unhappy with the decline in my appetite. I made myself eat as much as I could ,I didn't need to give Ranger another reason worry. After I had eaten about half of the omelet, I spooned a few blueberries in to my mouth , then scraped what was left on my plate in to the trash and went to my cubical.

I started my search on Kuzma. Yuri was 37 years old , he was born in Sochi, Russia. Kuzma later immigrated to the United states when he was twelve years old, along with his younger brother. They were orphaned, and sent to live with a friend of his late father. Yuri attended Penn state on Football scholarship, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in finance and business. Kuzma was a first round draft pick , and played for the Philadelphia Eagles for three years before he was traded to the Carolina Panthers. His NFL career lasted another 5 years, before he retired. Kuzma moved to Rumson , New Jersey. He owned an import export company, and was an assistant coach for William Patterson University. Yuri owned real estate all over the country, and in Europe. Kuzma was quite the athlete , he was on the track and field team in high school as well as foot ball and a competitive swimmer. He really was an adrenaline junkie , Yuri's favorite past times included ; sky diving , bungee jumping , surfing , free diving and speed skiing. Kuzma had never been married, and had no children. His only relative was the younger brother, who had immigrated with him. Yuri had been know to have a temper, and had several arrest for violent assaults , however he had never been convicted because the complainants never showed up at court. The client list for his Import Export business read like a who's who of crime. This man defiantly had ties to the Russian Mafia.

I checked in to his financial information. Then looked to see if he was still in possession of a Russian passport. He was , some how someone had over looked his duel citizenship. After finishing up the search , I printed out the information and put it in to a folder. I looked up at the clock and it was nearly 7:00 PM. I had taken the time to cross reference any and all information I could find on Kuzma. Newspaper articles , radio interviews , sports stats were all reviewed.

After I stretched , yawned and grabbed my purse to leave, I then remembered that I road to work with Ranger. I walked down the hallway to Rangers office. He was hard at work on his computer , and looked up when he saw me. I handed him my search results, and he thumbed though them for a few minutes.

"You ready to go home?", he ask.

"Yes", I answered.

"Did you grab something to eat?," Ranger said.

"I'll eat at home , I have a craving for a Peanut butter and olive sandwich with chips", I lied.

"Babe"

I was glad that Ranger did not insist on coming up. I just wanted to take a long hot shower, put on some colorful comfy pajamas, get into bed and go to sleep. I opened my front door and stepped out of my black Nikes. Then I noticed a pink bakery box on the kitchen counter next to Rex's cage. My heart froze as I forced myself to open it. Inside was a dozen freshly baked salted caramel donuts with rum cream filling from an upscale bakery. I picked the box up set it in the hallway and gave it a swift kick. Slamming the door behind me , I secured all the locks and the floor bolt. After retrieving my gun from the cookie jar, I loaded it and did a walk though of my apartment. Then I showered put on my P.J.s , placed my gun on the nightstand, pulled the covers over my head, and fell into a restless sleep full of nightmares.

The next morning when I walked in to the hallway the donuts were not where I had left them, "must have been just a nightmare" I said aloud. I dragged into Range man at 8 A.M. feeling absolutely exhausted. I went straight to my cubical and checked my in box for new searches that needed to be done and went to work. I was not in the mood to talk to anyone. Four hours later I looked over at the extra chair in my cubby , and Ranger sat there staring intensely at me. I had no idea how long he had been sitting there. I spun around in my chair, and made eye contact with Ranger.

"How long have you been there?", I ask.

"About 20 minutes Babe"

I nodded and went back to the computer search I was working on.

"Come with me" ,Ranger said , it was not a request.

I got up and followed him into the elevator.

We exited the elevator and walked in to a conference room. There was man sitting in one of the seats , and he stood when he saw us then shook Ranger's hand.

"This is Doctor Mitchell Fletcher." Ranger said introducing the man.

The man gave me a kind smile and then looked to Ranger.

"Nice to meet you MS. Plum", Doctor Fletcher said.

 _How did he know my name ,I had not told him, and Ranger hadn't mentioned it either?_

"Babe Doctor Fletcher is a therapist , you seem to be having a hard time dealing with what you have been though, I think ….."

"What , you think what , that I am crazy, and I need my head shrunk !", I interrupted.

Ranger moved toward me and tried to put his arm around my shoulder. I pushed him away hard with both hands. I was angry, confused and felt betrayed.

"That's not it Stephanie, you have been acting out of character, and I don't think your are dealing with this appropriately", Ranger explained gently.

"So this is how you handle things appropriately , you don't talk to me first , you just drag me up here and try to sit me in front of a shrink!", I shrieked.

"I should have never told you , let you go on a wild goose chase looking for a dead man", I said bitterly.

I stormed out of the conference room, and Ranger stalked out behind me.

"Screw you Ranger!", I yelled as I got on to the elevator just before the doors closed.

After going back to my cubical, I opened the bottom draw of my filing cabinet and quickly retrieved my purse. I sprinted though the room to the stairwell and raced to my car. Then after speeding out of the Range man garage, I needed figure out where I was going to go. If I went to my apartment , Ranger would show up, the same thing would happen if I went to the bonds office. I had no desire to visit my parents house, so I decided to hide out at Mary Lou's house. Ranger didn't know Mary Lou , and I knew he would not intrude on her home. I hung out at with Mary Lou until the kid's bed time. I kissed them all goodnight, hugged Mary Lou, and then headed to my car to go home. When I opened the car door I noticed my small can of pepper spray sitting on my car seat. I was sure I had dropped the canister that night , but maybe had fallen into the car, I reasoned.

"Hey Rex", I called entering my apartment. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed baby carrots , and a small chunk of cheese , then dropped them into his little bowl. Rex stuffed the food into his cheeks, and tried to take them into his can. For some reason Rex could not get into the soup can. After a shrug, I reached in to the can and discovered an antique faux sapphire and diamond earring that grandma Mazur had given me . The last time I had worn these earrings was when I had gone to The Taste of Trenton. There was only one in my jewelry box , because at some point during the night, I had lost the other. I held the earring in my hand and shuttered, then dropped it on to the counter. Instinctively my hand went to the Range man issued Sig that was holstered on my belt. Slowly I backed out of the kitchen, scooped up my bag off the hook by the door and closed it behind me. I locked the door, and took my Smith and Wesson from my purse. After taking the elevator to the lobby , I jogged with gun in hand to my car. Speeding down the road at eighty miles an hour, I went straight to Range man. I took the elevator to the seventh floor, and let myself into the Ranger's apartment. Slowly, I padded into Ranger's bedroom where he was already soundly asleep. I did not have heart to wake him, and I suddenly felt so very tired. Still fully dressed, I gently climbed into Ranger's bed next to him , and was quickly overcome by sleep.


	8. Could He Be ?

As I laid there in my bed, the day's event ran though my mind. I knew Stephanie needed help. Mitch had helped some of my men after long deployments , not only was he a great Psychologist , he had a way with people. Mitch and I had known each other for years, we had been suite mates in the dorms at Rutgers. I left after my sophomore year to join the army, and Mitch went on to graduate, go to medical school , and become a highly respected Psychologist. Mitch had a natural way of putting people at ease , they made themselves vulnerable to him without even realizing it. In his college days he had used his powers to keep sexiest ladies walking the campus on his arm , now he was putting them to good use by helping to heal people.

After Babe stormed out I went back in to talk to Mitch.

"She will be back", I said.

"What makes you so sure?", Mitch ask.

"Because I had the control room lock the building down, once she tries to leave and finds herself locked in, she will be back up here", I answered.

Mitch looked at me and shook his head, "Then what man , you think she is going to feel all chatty after being held hostage? Stop dicking her around unlock the doors".

"So what am I supposed to do, sit around and wait for her to self destruct , she is drowning I don't know what to do", I explained.

"That's a real good plan Manoso , you see someone drowning , then hit them in the head with a life preserver when they are not looking, knock them out and drag them back to shore. Then you want them to thank you for the concussion , sure that makes since", Mitch scoffed,

After calling the control room and letting them know not to lock the building down, I sat down across from Mitch and ran my hand over my head ,then let out an exasperated sigh.

"Carlos you do know you're an ass , that was foul what you just sprung on that lovely lady , bringing her in here blind", Mitch told me.

"I sat there for twenty minutes trying to bring up the subject , but I couldn't , instead I just stared at her", I explained.

"You know better , I can't help her until she is ready", Mitch reminded me.

"So I should call you when they commit her , because at this rate , that's when she will be ready for help", I told Mitch.

"You have to be patient with her man", Mitch urged me.

"I know , I know, but this woman is driving me crazy", I told him.

Mitch propped his feet up on the table, ankles crossed ,and folded his arms behind his head, then said,

"It appears that I have a cancellation in my schedule , if you would like to have a session ,I am available to listen."

I pushed his feet off the table, and said "No thanks , how about we head to Shorty's instead."

"If I say no, am I still free to go , or will I to become a victim of false imprisonment also", Mitch chuckled.

"You coming or not Mitch? ", I said as we both stepped on to the elevator.

* * *

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard someone enter my apartment. No one except Babe and Ella came in unannounced with a key. It was too late for Ella , so I knew it had to be Stephanie. I closed my eyes and listened to her as she crept into my bedroom then in to my bed. Babe fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. I pulled her close and then went to sleep myself.

The next morning I woke up at 5 A M. and went down to the gym for a work out. When I returned, I showered and dressed in my black cargos, Rangeman Tee shirt and Bates boots. Ella entered with a tray over flowing with food, I watched as she unfolded a linen table cloth and draped it on to the table. Then she set the table for two, complete with silverware and matching linen napkins. Ella took the food from the tray and arranged it on the table.

"How did you know I had company?", I ask Ella.

"I came by earlier to get your laundry, and she was sound asleep in your bed. You know she went to bed with her gun still on her hip", Ella reported.

I thanked Ella as she took the empty tray and left. It was still dark when I woke up this morning ,and I had not gotten a good look at Babe. Now hours later the sun light brightened my bedroom, and I could see that Ella was correct , not only was Stephanie completely dressed except for her shoes , her Sig was still harnessed to her hip. Wow, this was not like her , my Babe did not like guns , now here she was sound asleep wearing one. Either she was extremely tired, or something, or someone had spooked her pretty bad. After taking the gun from her harness, I placed it into the pocket of my cargos. In the chair next to the bed, Ella had laid out Stephanie's uniform for the day ,I chuckled when I saw the black bikini briefs with Rangeman embroidered on the back. Stephanie looked exhausted, so I decided against waking her, and ate breakfast by myself.

Tank and I returned from picking up some skips for Vinnie , then went to the control room to check out the monitors. I was surprised to see Babe was hard at work in her cubical. She really needed to get some rest , and I was hoping she would still be sleeping.

Though the monitor, I saw Bobby walk in to her Cubical, and say something to her. Quickly the conversation appeared to get animated on both ends. Quietly, I made my way to the entrance of the cubical to see what they talking about.

"It will only take a minute Steph, then you can get right back to work" , Bobby said.

"There is no reason Bobby ,I am fine", Stephanie replied.

"Yeah , yeah I am fine , It's no big deal" ,Bobby mocked in a voice several octaves higher than his own.

"I _am_ fine", Stephanie protested.

"Sure you are, until you develop pneumonia as a complication from broken ribs, or those stitches get infected , just let me take a look at you to make sure everything is healing alright", Bobby pleaded.

I had to fight the urge to bark out an order for her to get her ass out that damn chair go with Brown. I thought about that night we had found her folded up and stuffed in a cabinet. She wanted to stay and wait to catch Stiva , and I desperately needed for her to be safe. Stephanie finally agreed to let Tank take her home after I had said please. It worked that time, maybe it would work again.

"Babe please , Bobby is just trying to help you let him , please", I said quietly.

Without another word she got up and followed Brown , and I followed her. I know, I probably should have allowed her some privacy, but these days she was not forth coming with information. Nether one of them had the guts to tell me to leave, so I stood there and watched as Bobby examined her. First he checked the stitches on her forehead.

"These are healing nicely , I think next week I will be able to remove them for you", Bobby told Stephanie.

Stephanie took off her black Rangeman Tee and leaned against the examine table. That's when I noticed the black cargos she wore where hanging off of her waist, even with the belt , the bones in her spine appeared to be more prominent. I knew she had not been eating as much these days, but I was shocked to see such a drastic weight loss.

"You need to be careful with these back here, they are not healing as fast ,and I can tell at some point they came into contact with some sort of trauma. Keep it up, and you going to tear them again or worse they will become infected", Bobby cautioned.

"That happened when Hawkins slammed you against porch railing", I reminded her.

Brown Pulled out his stethoscope, "Alright I need to listen to you lungs", he told Stephanie

She turned around and sat down on the table. Her ribs were still bruised and the skin around looked red and inflamed.

"Your lungs sound good but , but I am concerned that your ribs are still so bruised", Bobby explained.

"That is because I fell in to a metal filing cabinet", she announced as she shot me a glare.

"I don't even want to know, Bobby said, You have got to be more careful , If you reinjure these there could be complications. Like infection, broken blood vessels, or a punctured lung", Bobby informed her.

"Anything else?", she ask putting her shirt back on.

"Yeah, taking prescription pain killers on an empty stomach will damage your stomach lining causing irritation, bleeding or ulcers", Bobby said.

"Understood", she said, "now am I free to get back to work?", she ask looking at both of us.

I stepped on to the elevator with Babe , and took her Sig out of the pocket of my cargo pants , then handed it back to her. She quickly took it and fastened it into her holster pulling her Tee over the holster.

"Sleeping with a loaded gun is not a good idea Babe"

"I won't make it a habit", she told me not making eye contact as she exited the elevator, and headed back to her cubical.

* * *

It was late in the evening when Stephanie ambled in to my office and slouched the chair across from my desk. Silently, her hands gripped the arms of the chair nervously. I could see a conversation churning in her mind as she struggled to find the words. I mental braced myself for what she was she about to say.

"What is it Babe" ?

"Do you mind if I stay with you for awhile?", she ask.

This was a question she knew that she did not have to ask, she was stalling. There was something serious that she needed to discuss , and she was tip toeing around it.

"You can share my bed any time , but you already know that, so why don't you want to go home?" , I questioned raising an eyebrow.

I watched her shift in the chair , and look down at the floor. When her eyes met mine again , I saw fear. Babe was desperately afraid of something and seeing her so scared made me angry. The problem was , I still needed to know who to direct my anger towards.

"Someone broke into my apartment a couple nights ago and left donuts on the counter. The same ones that I ate with Yuri they are a specialty item from an upscale bakery. Then I found the can of pepper spray that I used on him, it showed up in my car seat. When I went home last night, I found my earring in Rex's soup can , I lost _that_ earring _that_ night". She told me in a hushed voice.

I was trying very hard to keep my anger in check , Why did she wait so long to tell me, and better yet after she found the donuts , why did she go back to her apartment alone. What was wrong with this woman. This was something I could have been working on all day long , now it would have to wait until tomorrow.

"What do you think this means Ranger?" , she ask.

She knew what it meant , but was hoping I would tell her something different.

"You did the research, Kuzma is a strong athlete , and a free diver, that means he can hold his breath for extended periods of time. If he was not unconscious when he went in to the river and the shot was not fatal , it would have been easy for him to survive. He is an intelligent man, if he sensed that he was losing the struggle with you , he could have made you believe he was worse off than he really was", I clarified.

"So what now?", she said.

"We are going to have to find him before he finds you, alone and vulnerable", I responded.

Babe released a shiver , then ask no one in particular "what does this man want with me"?

I was hoping she knew that answer to that question , I understood I did not have all the facts, but something was still amiss. If he saw her that night and decided he wanted get her alone and do somethings I would rather not imagine, that would just make him your average predator. This appeared to be something more, he was not just stalking her, but in a sick way he was trying to seduce her. The donuts, those were a present , this man was not leaving threats. He could have waited and grabbed her at any moment , was he toying with her , or was he doing something else?

I was going to have to bring in some more team members to help with this one. Stephanie was not going to like that , she had hoped to keep what she told me between the two of us ,but that was no longer going to be possible. Yuri Kuzma had to be found, and the best way to do that was to entice him in with a lure. Problem was that Babe was going have to be the bait. I knew she was going to be less than thrilled with this arrangement, but it was necessary. This entire maneuver was going take some serious planning and precision. There was no room for mistakes here , mistakes could get my Babe killed. This was far more complicated than a simple distraction. We were dealing with a sophisticated stalker with Eastern European mob connections . Things would become even more problematic when you factored in that he was also FTA and wealthy. Money bought choices , silence ,and resources. Nothing about this was going to be simple, but with this woman very few things ever were.


	9. The Plan

_jkgk You said Ranger was easily willing to use her as bait, this is not true he is deeply conflicted by this plan. This next chapter will prove that he loves Stephanie and does not want to willingly out her into danger._

 _ _annalynn88 You said that the chapter was not long enough , so I deiced to give you more this time in the form of a longer chapter.__

* * *

The idea of what was about to happen , what needed to happen, was something I was not excited about. I did not take on this course of action lightly. After racking my brain all night long, I realized we had no other choice. Yes Stephanie was extremely afraid of this man and he was dangerous , but this plan our only option. Locking her in a safe house would not work , unless she planed to spend the rest of her life there. Kuzma was not trying to kill her, he wanted something from her, and I had no idea what it could be. The man was FTA ,it made no sense for him to stay in town stalking Stephanie. Like your typical Russian mobster he was intelligent ,cold, calculating, and most importantly, patient. Kuzma moved like a chess game ,strategically, and with precision. He was able to keep his composure when everyone around him was losing theirs. The way he had pretended to go under, waited for Stephanie to leave. Along with the fact that he managed to lurk and stalk later, spoke volumes to this man's determination. The only way this man was going to make an appearance , was if he thought he could gain access to Babe. I hated the idea of using her as bait, but if we did not , one of two things would happen , she would be looking over her should for the rest of her life , or he would going to get to her.

After a work out and a shower, I walked to the control room where Tank was working. Handing him the file on Kuzma , I ask him to take a look at it. Silently he scan the contents and then gave it back to me.

"You going after this guy , could be interesting", he said.

"I wish that's all it was , things with Kuzma are far more complicated than you can imagine", I informed him.

"So are you going sit there with your panties in a knot , or are you going to let me in on what's going on here?", Tank ask.

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, after taking a deep breath, I sat down in the set next to Tank.

"It's Stephanie , Kuzma has been stalking her, he broke in to her apartment and left her some gifts. I prepared a full report that will answer everyone's question and save sometime by getting everyone up to speed all at once. We need to form a team, and I would like your help. Who do you think we should bring in on this?"

"Lester and Bobby, they know her, and she will be with comfortable them. You know I'm on board , maybe Hector if we need some spy gear. Hal and Cal make great muscle, but when it comes down to executing complicating details, someone needs to keep an eye on them. Sometime they can get distracted" Tank explained.

"Call a meeting in the conference room with the team at 0200 hours. I am going to take Stephanie back to her place to pick some of her things, she is going to be staying with me until she safe again" I informed Tank.

* * *

"Hey Babe are you ready" , I ask as I slouched in to the seat next to her desk. She nodded and retrieved her hand bag from a drawer. Stephanie had not been very chatty these days , and I missed the sparkle in her eyes that used to light up my day. A sudden surge of anger filled me and I had to regain my cool. I wanted to get my hands on Yuri Kuzma and inflict a slow and painful punishment. If I could get him in the Range man holding cell , I would make Guantanamo Bay look like Summer camp. After letting Babe into the turbo, I sat down in the drivers seat and we were on our way to her apartment.

"Babe" , I said , about yesterday, the thing with Mitch , I should not have done that. You had every right to be angry", I told her.

I saw her lips curl slightly. "Wow was that an apology from Ranger Manoso , what have I done to deserve this honor?", she teased playful.

There she is, my Babe was back, even if it was just for a moment, it felt nice. I parked in the lot in front of her building, and we exited the car, then entered the lobby and took the stairs up to her apartment. She handed me the keys , I entered and did a walk though of the apartment before giving Stephanie the okay to come in. She stepped into the kitchen and her body stiffened.

"Someone has been in here", I can tell she announced.

Her eyes were focused on Rex's cage , his bowl was full of fresh vegetables and fruit. Stephanie began to open her cabinets , and they were well stocked with healthy organic goods, no junk food in sight. Next Babe opened the refrigerator and gawked at the fresh fruits , vegetables , milk , along with several prepared meals. She slammed the door and we both noticed the note taped there. _**"Eat well my love"**_ was written in a elaborate script on expensive stationary. I took the note and carefully folded it up before placing it in an empty plastic bag. Stephanie jogged into her bedroom.

"Ranger ! ", she screamed.

I raced in and she was pointing to her bed.

"That's not mine", she stammered.

She was talking about the luxury Egyptian cotton duvet and decorative pillows that dressed the bed. On the duvet was a note written on the same stationary, penned in the same script that said " ** _Sweet slumbers"_**. I took the note and put in the bag with the other one. Stephanie quickly grabbed a duffle bag and ran to her bathroom, scooped up some things, then went to the closet and dresser and did the same. I grabbed Rex's cage, and followed Babe out of the door. Once we were outside, Stephanie locked the door behind us, and we were down the stairs two at a time.

Babe put her bag on the floor in front of her , and held Rex on her lap.

"Are you alright ?", I ask.

She closed her eyes rested against the head rest, then she was quiet for a few minutes.

"I am not sure", she replied.

"Wanna talk about?", I said.

"Nope", she answered.

When we got to Range man, I took Rex and her duffle bags up to my apartment. Stephanie went immediately back to her cubical.

I checked my watch, I had about a half hour before the meeting was to start. The reports were in my office , so I deiced to get them and set the conference room early. As soon as I walked in to , my office my phone buzzed.

"Hello"

"There is a Dominick Vance , he says he is here for a meeting", Eddie told me from the control room.

"Send him up to the conference room, and I will meet him there", I answered.

Dom was an old friend of mine , he had knowledge and connections of the workings of the Russian Mafia. I did not like bringing in people who were not Range man employee's, I tried to keep things in house. Dom was different, I had known him for years and I knew he could be trusted. I had contacted him a couple days back before Stephanie had told me about the stalking. Dominick was and insider when it came to the Russian mafia , I wanted to see if he knew how deep Kuzma's organized crime ties ran. He told me he had answers but wanted to talk about it away from his home.

I went to the conference room and placed a report at each seat. Dominick filed in and sat in a seat.

"Good to see you" he said cheerfully

"Yeah but I wish it were under better circumstances" I replied.

"What do you mean?" he inquired

I had forgotten that when I first spoke to him that this case was a simple FTA ,now it had become so much more complicated.

"It appears that Kuzma has began stalking a friend of mine ,at some point he attempted to abduct her. Now he is hiding and leaving her love notes and gifts." I explained

That's not good, Yuri is a scary determined man , he is a custom to getting want he wants and does not easily give up. If he has been sneaking around watching her, it means he is not ready to make his move yet. The man is playing chess but instead of going for a check mate he is chasing the queen. He must believe she is one valuable piece, that she knows or has something he wants or needs. Once he has the board set up in his favor he will make the capture." Dominick explained

"How connected is this Kuzma" ask

He is a Vor , what is known as a thief in law, a member of the community of thieves. They are a ruthless bunch, no one is off limit even their own family members. Theft is the only crime that matters to them , whether that be theft of goods , freedom , sex or some one's life, they are all equal opportunity thieves. They are a community that supports it own, Kuzma uses his business to smuggle in goods to Russia to be sold on the black market. He has been known allow other thieves smuggle everything from drug to people though his import and export company.

"I plan on luring this guy out by using her as bait , I know it sounds…."

"Brilliant, Kuzma could care less about being FTA but if he wants her and he sees her, he will follow eventually" Dom said.

"Any suggestion places he likes to frequent ?"I ask

"There is a club he goes to sometimes , but more importantly his friends and business associates like to party there. You send her into the place looking like a million bucks. Let her flirt a little, attract some attention. If Kuzma has an ear out , and he always does, he will know. When he finds out , he will become more eager to get to the bait." he explained.

"What's the name of this club" I said.

"Inferno" he replied

"Dominick looked at his watch, "I have got some place to be, I hope I was able to help. Be careful you are dealing with an entire set of rules that like no other group of organized crime. Call me if you think of anything else I can help with" he said.

As Dom exited, Tank, Lester, Bobby, Hal, and Cal entered. They all sat down and waited for me to take the lead.

First thing I need you all to know this meeting is classified , the information that is discussed here is not to be shared with anyone else, not even other Range man employees. Please take some time and read though the file.

Bobby was the first to finish reading and also the first to speak. " So this is the Asshole who beat the hell out of her, huh!?"

Everyone in the room stared at Bobby, no one was used to hearing an eruption of anger come from his direction. Brown was normally buoyant , playful and a little silly.

"What's he talking about Lester ask, that's not in the report, this sicko has already hurt her"?

"How bad "? Tank Boomed

Again all eyes went to Bobby but he sat there silently. Then they focused on me waiting for answer.

"She will be alright , she has some stitches in a couple of different places , and broken ribs." I said trying to not give away to many details , knowing this part was something she would not have wanted to share.

Lester was quiet for a few minutes and then announced "Browns been holding out on us! Tank you remember when he kept trying to get us to find some reason to bring her around. It was his idea to get me to call her and ask her to go to Pino's with us. Remember he did not want to call , kept saying one of us should do it. Then when Rodriguez complained that the new guy was slow on the searches, how many times did he suggest that Tank get Bomber in here to help ?"

"You knew something was wrong and you did not say a damn thing !" Lester accused as he leaned in to Bobby's face.

"You better back up Lester ,you know I'm bound by patient confidentiality , I did what I could"! Brown yelled back giving Lester a shove.

"Enough"! barked Tank

"We don't have time for this, I explained. The next course of action is going to need to be precise there is no room for error. The only way Kuzma is going be captured is if he comes looking for Stephanie , he has been sequestered and waiting for the right time to appear so he can get a hold of her. So she is going to have to make it appear like she is returning to her everyday routine. We need for her to spend some time in the bond office , go by her mothers house. Her apartment is off limits, it not safe for her and he is using it to toy with her. Someone needs to be following her at all times she is never to be out of sight. Eventual he will go for her and that's when nap him." I reported.

There was silence for a while, then some murmuring, finally Hal spoke up and ask " So are you talking about using Ms. Plum as bait boss"?

"That don't sound like to safe a plan" Cal chimed in.

Everyone started to talk at once and the room buzzed with confusion. This meeting was quickly becoming disorganized , my men knew better. I understood that tension and emotions were running high, this was not just another account we were looking after. This was Stephanie and they all had developed a friendship with her, everyone in that room cared deeply about her well being. At the same time they were unfocused and wasting time, something I had not patience for. Suddenly my stress level bubbled over and I picked up one of the empty chairs and threw it against the wall.

I am sure they were all holding their breath, waiting for me to speak because the room was so quiet if anyone had exhaled or inhaled it would have easily heard. Everyone sat up straight their eyes directed at me and reflecting shock.

"Anyone got a better plan that won't get her killed, let me know, we can't put her in a safe house because, he is after her for some unknown reason. Maybe one you has the answer to that. What does Yuri Kuzma want or need with Stephanie Plum , is there some information that she has, or perhaps a secret she knows, maybe he wants to use her for something? Don't every one talk at once now" I growled bitterly.

Tank walked over and put his hand on my shoulder "You good Carlos?" he whispered?

"Tomorrow night she is going to go to a Club where Kuzma likes to hang , he will not be there, but his comrades will. This will not be a distraction, it is going to be more of an attraction. We are going to have her go in and play it coy, but she will look way too good to be ignored. Make sure she does not spend too much time talking to any one person. Hal , Cal you two are the muscle, anything goes wrong your job is to get to her and make sure she is safe. Bobby, Lester you two are the eyes and ears. You need to pay attention to what's going on in the club, what people are saying , who's talking about her and is anyone paying too close attention. Then be ready to report in the next meeting. Tank , you are in charge of making sure everyone is on their game. I am going to be command outside of the club , everyone will be equipped with an ear piece and a microphone. You will all be updated with any new information and important details via text and email. Take the report with you and study it. Again what's in there is classified." I informed the team.

"No one is to mention anything about this meeting or the topics of discussion to Stephanie because I still have not discussed some of these things with her yet. Other things she told me in confidence and she has no idea that I needed to share them with all of you. I am going to tell her tonight, so by tomorrow she will be up to speed." I told my men

After they all went back to work I set in the conference room. Surveying the damage to the wall and the chair. The wall board was going to have to be replaced , the chair needed to be hauled away.

Babe was at her desk concentrating on her search. I crept up from behind and put my arms around her. Her hair smelled wonderful and I inhaled the aroma then kissed the top of her forehead , before reclining in the chair next to her.

"I need you to finish up here around 3:30 and meet in my apartment , I would like to talk to you about something." I said

"Alright that's not a problem" she said going back to her search.

* * *

Stephanie walked in the door at 3:30 sat down on a bar stool at the kitchen counter next to me.

"What's this about Ranger?", she ask seriously.

"It's about Kuzma ", I stated.

"I don't want to talk about Yuri" she protested

"We have to talk about him, he not going to leave you alone."

"So what do you want to do about him" she ask ?

"He wants you , so we need to make you appear to be available to him. You are going to go back to work at the bonds office. Some of my men will help you take in your skips. When there are no skips, you sit in the office and gossip with Connie and Lula. Go visit you mother, take grandma Mazur to the beauty parlor. You stay away from your apartment , but the rest of your routine goes back to normal. When Kuzma makes himself available to us by trying to get to you, the team and I move in in for the capture", I told her bringing her in on the plan.

"The team" ?

Tank and me put together a team to deal with Kuzma , I know you won't like this, but I had to tell them some details that I know you were not crazy about sharing , the stalking ,your injuries. Look Babe this is a classified operation and only the team members know. Only Tank, Bobby , Lester Hal and Cal." I said trying to reassure her.

She looked at me as if I had slapped her, and stalked to the front door.

"NO!", she screamed.

"Excuse me" , I said.

"No I won't", she declared "Just leave me alone Ranger, I don't want your help or your team".

"You don't mean that Stephanie ".

"Yes I do, I going home", she huffed as she scooped up her keys.

"Babe you remember what happened the last time you stormed out and went home while someone was trying to protect you. Didn't you take a tranquilizer dart right between the shoulders? You woke up on a stretcher in the parking lot. Who knows where you could wake up if Kuzma gets his hands on you", I reminded her.

"I hate you Ranger", she said narrowing her eyes at me .

Stephanie put the keys back in the tray , and brought her gaze to mine. Her eyes teared, and I thought she was about to cry. Then she did something that took me by surprise. My Babe took a swing at me. I stepped back out of reach, and then walked into the kitchen.

"Okay Babe, I should not have said that, it was not cool , but you need to calm down".

"You are right Ranger", she whispered as she leaned against the kitchen counter.

Then suddenly she pick up a vase of flowers that Ella had put there to brighten the room , and launched it at my head.

"You should not have said that to me ! " ,she screamed.

Water and glass exploded all over the kitchen as the vase and flowers hit the wall when I ducked. I reached forward and grabbed the tail of her shirt pulling her toward me. She kicked at me and I caught her leg before she could make contact.

"Stop it, Stephanie behave" I warned her.

"Let go of me" she streaked

Stephanie clamped on to the counter and her shirt tore as I continued to pulled her. I stepped forward and spun her around by her shoulders. Her eyes were distant and panicked, she had zoned off to some far place. Babe continued to fight me with everything she had. She could have really hurt me if I had allowed her to land any of her blows. Stephanie was swinging wildly with both fist and feet. She was grasping for whatever she could get her hands on to hurl at me. This had to stop before she rendered my apartment uninhabitable. I embraced tightly in my arms, her back to my chest, and folded her arms around her straight jacket style. Babe struggled with me and I worried that I might hurt her ribs or that she could tear her stitches in the standing position were in. As I sat in a chair I pulled Stephanie in to my lap and crossed a leg over her thighs and held her tightly. She was locked into position so there was no more struggling but her breathing was ragged , as she let out frustrated grunts.

"Shhhh it's okay Babe , I've got you", I cooed in to her ear as I gently rocked her to sleep. When I was sure she was not going to wake up, I carried her to the bed, and put her down.

I checked to make sure her stitches had not been effect when I had to restrained her. She was fine no new bruises , this was a relief to me , because the last thing I wanted to do was to injure her or aggravate any existing ones. I tried to take the torn shirt off of her, but when I touched her she protectively pulled herself tightly to the fetal position.

The apartment was not too bad, some furniture had been toppled , a few things had been knocked off shelves , and tables that she had throw at me. I went to work righting the future, and placing the items back on the shelves on tables. Once that was done , I went to the kitchen and picked up the big shards of glass and the flowers, then tossed them in the trash can. I call Louis, and ask him to bring up a mop and dust pan ,Ella did not need to be the one to clean this up.

Louis arrived with a bucket, a mop ,boom and dust pan.

"You have been busy today , first the conference room, and now this", he commented and got busy cleaning up the glass and water.

"Yes, something like that", I replied. I waited for Luis to leave, and then I went down to the control room.

Tank, Lester, and Bobby were on the monitors.

"Anyone feel like sparing?", I ask.

"With you , today , no way man, none of us wants to wind up like that chair from the conference room",Tank answered.

I went down to the gym and worked the speed bag for about an hour, and then went back to my apartment. When I opened the door the delicious smell of dinner filled the entire place. There was a soup tureen on the counter along with warm fresh baked bread and a salad. I walked in to the bedroom and Ella was sitting on the bed next to Stephanie holding the torn tee- shirt in her hand. Babe was wearing a new shirt that Ella must have changed her in to. Ella's face wore a concerned expression and she gently strokes Babes forehead as she slept.

When Ella saw me standing in the doorway, she started to explain.

"I came in , and I thought she might be cold in this, she said hold up the torn shirt. And then…"

"No explanation necessary Ella", I said interrupting her. "You are fine".

"Is she alright , I saw… , she is hurt, and she is so thin. I noticed that she has not been eating much of what I leave here. I made soup tonight, it is easy on the stomach, maybe she will like that", Ella said.

"Thank you Ella , I am sure she will appreciate it" ,I told her.

"I like her ,she is always so friendly and cheerful , I enjoy taking to her, and it is nice to have another woman in the building" ,Ella remarked before leaving, her voice was thick with emotion.

The spot where Ella had been sitting on the bed was warm as I sat in her place. I looked at Babe and I smiled, this woman made my life better. I pulled the blanket over her , and hoped that when she woke up she would be more reasonable. What was I going to do with Stephanie , she was so frightened , I wondered if she was going to work with us and go along with the plan? It was the only way to keep her safe and I _needed_ for her to be safe.


	10. Girl Talk

I woke up to find Ranger sitting next to me on the bed. I sat up and looked around the room confused. That last thing I remembered was arguing with Ranger , throwing the flowers, then taking a swing at him, and after that my mind could not recall any more details or how I got here in bed.

"What happen , how did I get here?", I ask Ranger.

"You went all fight or flight on me, and wore yourself out then fell asleep", Ranger told me.

I was shocked and embarrassed. " I 'm sorry , I am so sorry, did I hurt you ?", the words all rushed out of my mouth at once.

Ranger put his finger to my lips , and pulled me out of bed with him as he stood.

"Ella has dinner ready, let's eat", he said.

I sat down at the table and ladled the soup in to my bowl. Ranger stared at me waiting for me to eat.

"When was the last time you ate? " he ask.

I had to think about that question, it was yesterday at breakfast I suppose. There was no way I was going to let Ranger in on that fact.

"Breakfast" ,I said quickly as I spooned the soup in to my mouth. It was warm ,spicy and flavorful. When I swallowed the delicious creamy broth , it was soothing and gentle on my empty stomach. I reached for a slice of bread and dipped in to my bowl. Before I knew it, I had eaten three bowls of soup and four slices of bread.

Ranger sat back in his chair watching me with a slight smile on his face. We finished our meal, and put the bowls, glasses, and silverware in the dishwasher. I followed Ranger into the den, and he remoted the television on. Ranger sat down and stretched his legs out. I sat next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. In this moment I felt content and safe. After watching an action movie, we went to bed.

I got up the next morning , took a shower did my hair then got dressed in Range man attire.

Ella had set up breakfast on the table I stared at it and pondered if I felt like eating.

"Babe you are wearing the wrong clothes, remember you are going in to the bond office, and tonight your going to Inferno", Ranger reminded me.

"I Remember, but I never agreed to that", I replied.

"Stephanie, we have put a lot of time and effort in to this plan, and I am going to need you to cooperate with us", he explained.

"No", I replied flatly.

"No, what ?", he ask.

"No, I will not run around out there ,and hope that man will chase me. No, I won't go to a club , and wait for someone to drop a Roofie in to my drink and drag me off somewhere so you can follow him. No I will not be bait !", I shouted.

"Why are you shouting ? ", Ranger said in an annoyed voice.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Drop the attitude Stephanie, go change, get in your car, and go to the bonds office" , he told me in a low menacing voice.

"Anything more demands warden?", I said sarcastically.

" I have got six men on standby prepped and ready to help _you_ , they want to make sure _you_ are safe. We need _you_ to work with us Babe."

I said "no", as I walked out of the door. Ranger followed behind me slamming his door hard behind him. I was able to get to the elevator, push the button , and head down to the fifth floor before he could get on.

Five minutes later, I was sitting in my cubical working on search when I saw Ranger stalking in my direction. He entered my cubical , leaned over turned off my computer, and pulled me out of the chair by my arm.

"Go!", he said pointing to the elevator. I shook my head no, and walked back toward my cubical , Ranger put an arm over the door way to block me. I ducked under and sat back down. Then I heard laughter coming from the control room. Ranger grabbed me by the tee shirt, and kicked the chair out from under me as he pulled me to my feet. I heard more mummers of laughter again.

"Stop man handling me ", Ranger.

Tank came running in my cubical.

"You two are putting on quite a show for the control room, and others are filing in to watch", Tank reported to us.

Ranger let go of my shirt, and stormed over towards the control room. In his haste he tripped over a ladder that Louis had been using to change an overhead light. Ranger was able to avoid falling , but he angrily tossed the ladder in the opposite direction. About 10 Rangemen sprinted out of the control room and five others were tripping over one another trying to get out, but Ranger blocked their exit before they had a chance to escape. He stepped in to the room and slammed the door so hard the walls shook.

"Bomber you are making that man crazy", Tank laughed.

I sat down in the Range man kitchen at one of the small tables. I stared at the empty coffee pot , trying to decide if I wanted to make another pot, or just go back my desk. Ella walked in and smiled at me.

"I was just about to make another pot, but come with me , and I will get you something better", Ella told me.

She made a fresh pot of coffee for the kitchen, took hold of my wrist then towed me out of the kitchen and into the elevator. We took the elevator down to the fourth floor and entered her apartment. Ella's place was beautiful , there were perfectly polished wooden floors dressed with expensive Persian rugs. The windows were draped with silk contains made from exotic material. She had comfy contemporary over stuffed furniture , that was complemented by the tasteful mahogany end tables. This was more than just an apartment , it was warm and inviting , this was a home. There were silver frames on one of tables of Ella and Louis though out their relationship. Some where in black and white , the more recent ones where in color. There were pictures of a younger version of Louis and Ella on a date, others of their wedding , and then I saw a photo that shocked me. It was Ella , she had a small baby bump, Louis was bent in front of her kissing her belly as she kissed his the top of his head.

"That is one of my favorite photographs", Ella announced.

"I didn't know you had children Ella", I said.

She shook her head and replied "No, I don't".

"I am so sorry Ella"

"That was a long time a go mija , I have recovered ", she assured me. Come on, and I will make you a cup coffee."

Ella had a large kitchen with state of the art appliances, there was a large prep counter and triple sinks with a top of the line fancy faucet. This kitchen was Martha Stewart meets five star restaurant. I sat down in one of the elegant kitchen chairs , and watched Ella take out a French coffee press, and then put coffee bean in a grinder. She placed the freshly ground beans in the French press, then poured hot water over them, and artfully prepare the coffee. Ella set two cups and saucers made of beautiful china on to the table. I admired the China as Ella poured the coffee.

"Those belonged to my grandmother, I brought them all the way from Argentina", Ella beamed.

She set down a plate of toast with guava paste along with cream and sugar for the coffee.

Ella joined me at the table and poured cream into her coffee then added sugar. She took a sip of her coffee , and then peered over the edge of the cup to look at me.

"Ranger is in a mood today, do you know anything about that?" , Ella inquired.

"All too well Ella, we are having a disagreement as to my over all welfare ", I answered.

"What does that mean?", Ella ask.

"There is a bad man after me , Ranger has a solution to the problem", I said.

"And you don't agree, you want to talk about it ?" She ask.

I shook my head no, and took a bite of the toast.

"That's okay mija , you don't want to talk, just listen. When I was a young woman in Argentina , I worked in a five start hotel , and I was excellent at my Job as a hospitality manager. In those days women were nothing more than house keeper , but I studied abroad and worked in hotels during my semester breaks. I learned each and every detail of the industry. From catering , to event planning , to management, I made sure to learn it all. Once I graduated and went back home, I worked hard to make my way up the corporate ladder, determined not to let anything distract me. That is until I met an American Solder in the hotel bar named Louis. He was stationed there , and we began dating, before I knew it I was hopelessly in love with him. After we got married , being the solder he was and seeing the things that he a had seen, he was constantly worried about my safety. I hated it , and sometimes, I would do the opposite of what he said, just to annoy him. Like walking home alone late at night. One day the hotel was hosting an event for a political official and I was in charge of every detail. I was excited, and could not wait to tell Louis. He was less than thrilled, and adamant that I let someone else take charge the event. I thought it was because I was pregnant, but he insisted that was not the reason. Louis ask me to trust to him , and just do as he ask this time. He would not let up, so I lied and told him I had let someone else handle the event. That day I got up and dressed for work. Louis, he begged me to stay home, but I could not because this was my event, he had no idea that I was still in charge. We argued , and I went to the hotel after he left. What I did not know was , that the politician who was hosting the event, had been the target of an assassin and was receiving threats. Louis had been privy to this information, but it was classified and he could not tell me. Someone detonated a bomb that day. I was injured and lost our baby along with any chance of ever having a child", Ella Confessed.

"Was he angry with you?", I ask.

"I expected him to be, instead he said he was grateful to still have me, but if he was angry , he never showed it. I thought he would go back to the States alone , and leave me in Argentina, but he did not. Louis cried with me , he comforted me , took care of me ,but he never blamed me. I learned a few things from that experience , the first is that it is not necessary to be so head strong all the time. Next , to trust the people in your life that love you, even when you don't have all the pieces to the puzzle , there are others who can see the picture when you can't. Most importantly, I learned that my husband LOVES me, and the thought of being apart is what scares him the most. He worries because he cares", Ella shared with me.

I took a moment to think about what Ella was trying to tell me. Then Louis came in. He picked up Ella's cup and finished the rest of her coffee , then she playfully punched his arm. Louis kissed Ella on the lips, and then went to the refrigerator. He poured himself a glass of milk , and sat down at the table next to me .

"I am hiding from Ranger, today he is in a mood. Are you hiding in here too ?", Louis ask.

He never took his eyes off his wife, they were full of love as he continued to stare at Ella.

"No silly, she is not hiding ,we are having girl talk , now go away", she jested. Louis stood up kissed Ella again , and then walked out of the door.

"When he looks at you his eyes a filled with so much love , like you are his world", I said to Ella.

Ella reclined in her chair and eyed me, her lips curled in to smile.

"You have no idea do you , Carlos looks at you the same way", Ella said.

"No , I think you are mistaken", I replied. "Ranger has told me he loves me, but not he kind of love that comes with a ring , no the kind of love you and Louis share", I told her.

"Men" she chuckled , don't let him fool you, that man would walk though auxiliary gun fire for you", Ella laughed. "Your Tormenting that man, making him worry", she continued.

"I guess I could give him a break ,and the rest of Range man too " ,I agreed.

"Good girl", she said patting my hand as she walked me to the door.

I took the elevator up to Ranger's office, and knocked on the door.

"WHAT", he bark.

I opened the door and slumped into a seat. Ranger cut his eyes at me, but did not say anything.

"Can we talk?", I ask.

Ranger narrowed his eyes at me , and folded his arms across his chest.

"I am sorry ", I whined.

"Continue", Ranger grumbled.

"I understand you are trying to help me ,and I appreciate it , even if it does not seem like I do", I explained.

"And ", he said his tone now softening.

"I trust you Ranger", I said firmly.

"Soooo ?", Ranger ask.

"What time do I need to be ready to go to the club tonight ? "

"Babe"


	11. Club hopping

Ranger agreed to let me work at Range man today, but tomorrow I would go back to the bonds office. I looked at my watch , and realized that I needed to go upstairs and get ready for the club. I logged off the computer, printed out my last search, and left my cubicle. As I opened the door, the aroma of Ella's cooking wafted though the apartment. Ranger was sitting at the table eating, I looked over at the counter, and saw Ella had made soup again. The soup was a hearty Chicken noodle with fresh vegetables and large thick noodles. She had made fresh biscuits to go with the soup. I took a bowl and ladled in a small portion of soup , and helped myself to a biscuit. The soup smelled delicious, but my stomach had been in knots all day, I was nervous about tonight. After eating half of the biscuit and most of the soup , I got up from the table.

"That's all you're eating " ?

I nodded , "I am going to take a shower and then get dressed for to night", I announced.

"Ella picked out something nice for you, I sent her shopping this afternoon. I think you will like it", Ranger said.

"Thanks" ,I said as I grabbed a towel , then jumped into the shower.

After my shower, I went to the dressing room to get underwear from my bag, I looked around and saw the two bags I had brought with me folded up on a shelf , but not clothes.

"Ranger do you know what happened to my clothes? " I ask.

He walked into the dressing room and pointed to a small set of drawers in the corner.

"Ella cleared some space for you , she said it was not right to having living out of bag. All your cosmetic are in the bathroom," He told me.

All of my things were neatly arranged and folded in the drawers. I selected a strapless lace bra and a pair of matching boy short panties. After putting them on, I slipped in to Ranger's robe before going to the bedroom to see what I was wearing tonight.

Ella had chosen a beautiful purple silk romper , the neckline dipped off of both shoulders , it was sexy and elegant all at the same time. There were a pair of strappy leather stacked wedge heels and a matching clutch. This was nice, no slutty dress , and no towering stilettos.

"Before you put that on, I am going to need to wire you", Ranger said to me, holding the microphone and tape in his hand.

I opened the robe and he went to work getting me wired. Ranger was silent as he finished taping down the equipment , and I wondered if he was nervous or still a little upset with me about my behavior this morning. He left the room, and I started to get dressed. I looked at the size and groaned , too small I thought to myself. I decided to try it on anyway, and to my surprise, it fit with some room to spare. The silk knee length garment felt amazing next to my skin , I put on the wedge heels and they gave me the right amount of height and comfort. Next ,I went to the bathroom and looked for my makeup. Ella had all my makeup well organized in a drawer. After applying eyeliner, and an extra coat of mascara to feel brave , I put on a new shade of lip gloss. I walked to the full length mirror and gave myself the once over. I liked what saw, too bad it was for tonight's occasion.

"How do feel Babe ? ", Ranger ask as I walked into the living room.

"Pretty", I answered, because I did , it was not a feeling I got to enjoy often.

"You are way past pretty Babe", Ranger said as he opened the front door for me.

We stepped into the elevator and went down to the parking garage. The guys were waiting for us, when I looked around the seriousness of it all hit me, and my stomach started doing back flips. Lester walked over to me and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Relax beautiful , we are going be in there with you , none us is going to let anyone hurt you", he ensured me.

Ranger opened the door to the turbo for me , and then angled in on the drivers side. My mind was racing and I was angry with myself for being so afraid.

We arrived at the club and parked , the guys went in first. Ranger handed me an ear piece.

"Tonight we are all connected , you will be ale to hear every conversation between all of the team members. Try to stay focused, filter the information you need, and ignore the communication that does not apply to you", he instructed.

I put the ear piece in and exited the car. I could hear Ranger testing everyone's microphones, and I did what he said and ignored it.

I walked into the club and as soon as I strolled past the bar, I heard someone calling my name.

"Stephanie" !

I turned to see who it was, and recognized Jamal , he had dated Lula , I had met him a few times.

"Hey Jamal , how have been, I forgot you were a bar tender", I said.

"How is Lula?", he ask.

"Still Lula" , I answered.

"Nice, tell her to give me a call , so what are you drinking tonight ?", he ask .

"I pulled a twenty out of my purse and put it on the bar , Cranberry and vodka on the rocks, extra heavy on the cranberry and hold the vodka , if anyone buys me a drink, that's what I am having all night long," I explained.

"I got you Ma", he said taking the twenty , "not safe for a woman to be out drinking alone" ,he told me with a wink.

Sitting on the bar stool, I crossed my legs and scoped out the room. There was a large dance floor and several booths on the level where I was sitting ,the floor above was the VIP section. The club was dimly light and overflowing with people. A mix of top forty , hip hop, and R&B played from the D.J booth. While I was sipping my drink, a man came over and ask me if I wanted to dance. The question caught me off guard.

I heard "Yes" in my ear piece , "Yes you want to dance".

I hopped off my bar stool and said, "Sure".

He took me by the hand and led me to the dance floor.

"Yeah she turning head now , I see a guy in The VIP that has not taken his eyes off her every since she hit the dance floor", I heard Bobby say from my ear piece.

We danced for a few songs , and then the guy started to get clingy , I was dodging his roaming hands.

"Time to walk way Bomber", I heard Lester say in my ear piece.

I scooted pass my dance partner and left the dance floor. As I walked back to the bar, I felt a hand on my back.

"Hey pretty lady, how about I buy you drink" a voice said in my ear.

Behind me was a large man dark hair , dark eyes, handsome face. We walked over to the bar and ordered. I tasted my drink to make sure Jamal had not forgotten.

"My friend is up in the VIP, he wants to meet you, would you like to come up? ", the handsome man ask me.

"Negative , Steph you would have to be alone in an elevator with this guy, and area is too dark and secluded", Tank said.

"If your friend wants to meet me, I will be right here", I told him.

He picked up his phone and sent a text message. I am Arman , and I am pleased to be in your company. My friend said he is coming down to join us , let's go find a booth and wait for him.

We found a booth ,and sat down while we waited for his friend to come meet us. My dance partner came back and stopped in front of me.

"Move along", Arman said in a low voice.

The man threw his hands up in surrender, and quickly left. I watched as a tall man strolled over to the table. Arman quickly stood up and let him slide in next to me. There was something familiar about this man but, I was sure I had never met him before. He lifted my hand and kissed it.

"Hello Stephanie, are you enjoying yourself to night?", He ask.

"No fair, you know my name and I don't know yours, have we met before ", I inquired ?

"Let's just say we have a mutual acquaintance , I am Dmitriy", He said introducing himself.

"Nice to met you Dmitriy , would you like to tell me who this mutual acquaintance is "?

He leaned in close and winked an eye at me. Those beautiful slate blue eyes , I had seen them before. My heart froze , and I had to take hold of my glass to hide the fact that my hands were now shaking.

"Ahh, I see you understand now , hold on for minute, I have to take this call", he said standing.

As soon as Dmitriy stood up and walked a few paces away, another man sat down and started to talk to me.

Arman walked over to us and said to the man " She is Yuri's" , the man scrambled out of the booth and practically ran away.

Dmitriy returned to the booth and looked at me intensely.

"So you are Yuri's brother, I said, is there something I can do for you ?" I ask.

"You are exquisite", he said as he ran his hand across my cheek.

I fought the urge to flinch and ask , "Have you seen your brother lately, I want to thank him for the presents he left for me".

Dmitriy gave a soft chuckle , "That's cute you want me to give him a message huh. He called me that night you know."

"What night? ", I said batting my lashes at him".

He moved in close to me then nuzzled my neck, and it was all I could do not to keep myself from running out of the club.

"You know the night my brother made his newest acquisition. He told you he collected beautiful things , now you are one of his things", Dmitriy laughed.

He slid his hand up my thigh and under my clothes.

" Do you need us to move in I heard in", my ear piece?

"I am enjoying this conversation , tell more about Yuri" ,I said , hoping they would understand that I was alright .

"My brother called me that night, he was excited about you, and had made accommodation for your arrival at his home. I was on the phone with him when you told him you felt sick, then he hung up", Dmitriy said.

He ran his thumb over my lips and told me ,"Yuri has always had good taste".

"You need to watch your hands, and I am not a car, or a piece of art, and certainly not one of your bother's acquisitions", I warned.

"What makes you so sure , just because you escaped does not mean you are not his property. Yuri has claimed you now , run all you want, but you cannot hide. My brother always retrieves his belongings", Dmitriy sneered before leaning in to try to kiss me.

I threw my drink in his face, and he growled at me , raising his hand back to hit me. Before he had the chance to , Hal hauled me out of the other side of the booth by my waist. He held me against his body ,as Dmitriy violently charged toward me.

"Calm down my friend", Arman warned him. "Yuri will not be happy if you hurt her", he told Dmitriy, and he stepped in front him.

Hal handed me off to Lester, and kept an eye on Dmitriy , when he was sure the man was no longer a threat , he walked out of the club behind me and Lester.

"You were brilliant in there beautiful , they way you kept him talking , and did not freak out when he started groping you", Lester said as he walked me to the turbo.

Ranger was outside of the car waiting, he opened the door for me , I stood there staring, my mind was still struggling to process what had just happened. Ranger shoved me into the car gently and then fastened my seat belt before joining me the car on the drivers side.

He was talking to me about something, but my mind was a million miles away.


	12. Gilded Cage

I looked at the woman sitting next to me, and knew she was not hearing a single word I was saying. Stephanie had become completely withdrawn. As we pulled in the parking garage she sat silently , hands balled into fist in her lap. I parked and then reached over and unfasten her seat belt. When she did not move I leaned over and brushed a curl out of her eyes , she gave a startled gasp and looked at me.

"I didn't mean to scare you , let's go upstairs" I said gently.

She nodded and exited the car, closed the door, then wrapped her arms protectively around herself as she stood in front of the passengers side. Walking over to her, taking one of her hands, I pulled Babe into my arms. I tucked her head under my chin, and whispered in to her ear.

"You don't have to worry about him , there is an entire team working hard to keep you safe , you saw how Hal was right by your side before anyone could hurt you", I assured her.

Stephanie walked into the apartment.

"I hate smelling like eau de club", she announced, before walking into the bathroom with her towel and my robe.

Twenty minutes later, she came out wet hair pulled back and, wearing one of my tee-shirts. She went straight to bed , pulling the covers over her head. A half hour later , when I got into bed beside her, I knew by the pattern of her breathing that she was not asleep. After listening to her lie awake for the next few hours next to me in silence , I reached for Babe and felt her body trembling. I brought her face to mine to see if she had been crying , but there were no tears. Wrapping her in my arms, I held Babe close to my chest until sleep overcame her.

The next morning I was up at 0:500 to work out. As I changed into my gym shorts and tee -shirt in the dressing room , I heard Stephanie whimper from my bed. She was thrashing around, struggling , fighting the covers. Her body was drenched in sweat, and an expression of fear was etched across her face.

Gently I shook her ," Babe , wake up" , I whispered.

She awoke nervous and confused , trying to figure out where she was , her breath was ragged.

"It was just a nightmare Babe. you are safe here in my apartment" I said consoling her.

She nodded , and curled up on her side closing her eyes.

"Do you want me to stay with you until you go back to sleep ?",I ask.

She shook her head no , I kissed her forehead , and went to the gym.

When I returned I went to the bedroom to check on Stephanie. My mind went into over drive when I did not find her there. I looked in the bathroom , then the dressing room , she was not in the apartment. Racing down the stairs to the control, I felt a serge of fear consume me. I ran out of the stairwell ,and across the fifth floor to the control room, to ask whoever was on duty, if they had seen her. Relief settled over me when I saw her sitting in a chair next to Hector. I watched from the door way as she happily chattered away with him, while eating a bowl of Ella's apple cinnamon oatmeal. While Hector scared most people, Stephanie had formed a warm rap pore with the tattooed former gang banger. My lips curled in to a slight smile as watched the two, this was the closest to normal I had seen her since I had come back to town. Not wanting to interrupt the pair , I went back up stairs to take a shower. While I was in mid lather, I thought about what Dmitriy had said about Yuri making arrangements for Stephanie at his home. I had the urge to check it out, and decide I was going to make a trip up to Rumson today. There was no way this man was going to be home if he was hiding out. I could find out more about him by going in to his domain , possible his mind set, and some of what made Kuzma tick. Hector was going to have to come with me to help override the security system. After getting dressed and putting on my gun belt , I took the elevator to the fifth floor.

I walked into the control room and Babe was still sitting with Hector , I felt an overwhelming protective need to keep her close to me today. Her behavior when she left the club last night , the nightmares , all of that had me worried about her. I was sure there would be no danger in this trip, so I deiced to take Babe with me and Hector.

"Alright you two we are going on a field trip, suit up and grab your gear", I announced.

When Stephanie stood up, I was surprised to see she had her gun holstered at her waist under her shirt.

Hector grabbed his weapon from the drawer and strapped it into his holster, then pick up his gear and lap top as the two followed me to the elevator.

I angled in to the Yukon Denali, and Babe moved to climb in behind me in the rear passengers seat to allow hector to ride shot gun.

"No, I need you next to me today", I said.

Hector helped Babe into the seat next to me and then got into the back seat.

Ten minutes after we were out of the garage, Stephanie had her head on the head rest and was sleeping. I took the opportunity to bring Hector up to speed with the matter at hand. Traffic was good and we made the drive in just over an hour. Once we arrived , Hector used his laptop to hack into the security system and opened the gates for us to drive though. Then he rerouted the entire system, so he control it with his tablet while we were in the large mansion.

"This way we are able to monitor the grounds and the house so we don't have one sneak up on us" , he said.

Hector had even managed to gain access to the security. I woke Stephanie "Babe we are here". she opened her eyes and stretched.

"Where is here", she ask ?

"At Yuri Kuzma's House", I answered.

Fear flashed across her face, and she looked at me then to Hector, and back to me again.

Hector took her hand in his "Hey Chica your are safe with us , nothing is going to happen to you." He told her gently.

Instantly Babe relaxed, unfasten her seat belt , and exited the truck.

Hector overrode the digital door lock and we were in the mansion with no problems.

I checked out the kitchen first, looking for dirty dishes, and food in the refrigerator. From the appearance , no one had recently used the kitchen. Next, I headed for the master bedroom , someone had been in here, and they been in hurry. The once neat and orderly room, now had drawers pulled open, and empty hangers lying on the floor in contrast to the orderly clothes that were organized ,and color coordinated in the closet and in the dressers. There was a set of luggage with the largest rolling suitcase missing. It looked like Kuzma had come home, packed a few things, and left. I looked on the dresser and he had left a large wad of cash along with an expensive pair of cuff links. In the dressing room he had left jewelry , credit cards, and more cash. Where ever he had gone it was temporary , Kuzma was planning to return.

Kuzma had a game room , it was full of pictures of his thrill seeking adventures along with his NFL days. Around the room there were several different chess board set up with multiple games going on simultaneously. Each board was labeled with the name of an opponent, Kuzma was winning every game.

We entered Kuzma's office next , Hector took out his lap top and cables , then downloaded the contents of Kuzma's computer. I walked around and check out his book shelves that covered half the room from floor to ceiling , the man was a veracious reader. There was a small table next to a large leather chair. The books on the table were open with paper clipes and highlighter lying next to them , pages and passages had been noted. I surveyed the books and read the titles ;

 **Art and Seduction: An Indispensable Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power,**

 **Influence :The Psychology of Persuasion"**

 **The 40 laws of the Alpha Male : How to Dominate Life , and Attract Women and Achieve Massive Success**

 **The Manipulated Mind :Brainwashing , Conditioning, and Indoctrination.**

 **Brainwashing : The Science of Thought Control**

 **Lost Art of War: Ancient Secrets of Strategy and Mind Control**

This man was studying up like a Graduate student, and these were his text books. I directed Stephanie out of the room before she had a chance to see the books.

After looking though the upstairs and the downs stars of the house , Hector told me that there was a sublevel of the home that was registering on the monitors. The strange thing is that we could find no evidence of a stairwell or an elevator that lead to a lower level. Then behind a large bookcase in the study , Stephanie noticed a hidden door next to an alarm key pad. Hector overrode the code and the door opened to reveal a hidden elevator, Once inside , the elevator required another code to operate. Hector inputed some data into his tablet , and then entered the access code to the elevator. We went down to the sublevel and the door opened to a large corridor, on the wall next to the elevator was a key on a lanyard. We followed the corridor to a room with a larger reinforced steel door and used the key to gain access inside.

As we walked in to the room, it was hard not to feel the obvious chill inside. The thermostat was located outside the door and was set to 50 degree fahrenheit. Then an understanding hit me the, frigid room , the books. Under the right circumstances , it is possible to warp the will of someone's mind , to manipulate them into submission. Though systematic methods and the right tactics , a person could become completely dependent on a captor and develop stockholm syndrome. If a man knew what he was doing, it could be done in as little as three days.

The room was a gilded cage , but a cage none the less. A 50 inch Television hung on the wall. The over sized California King bed was dressed in 1000 count Italian linen. Expensive art work adorned the walls , Renoir , Monet and a Van gogh. Hand woven imported rugs lined the floor. There were no clothes to be found, except for the overpriced La Perla Lingerie and a pair of Louboutin Stilettos. Stephanie walked over the bed , there was a note written on a familiar stationary in the same elaborates calligraphy.

 ** _Hello My pet,_**

 ** _Welcome to your new home. Don't worry it's temporary ,when you learn to behave for Yuri the two of us can live together as man and wife, I cannot wait to lavish you with things that are as exquisite as you, but first you must show me that you feel the same about me as I do you. I am a patient man._**

 ** _Love,_** ** _Yuri_**

I watched Babe turn white , drop the note , run out of the room and though the long corridor to the elevator. Hector and I did a quick check to make sure that we had left everything so it appeared to have been undisturbed ,and then ran after her.

Stephanie was pacing in the elevator , waiting for Hector to enter the access code. I hung the lanyard back on the wall ,and we all took the elevator back up to Kuzma's study. As soon as the doors opened, Babe was off the elevator like a rocket , though the study door, down the main stairwell ,and outside of the mansion. Hector was after her faster than me , but I was right on his heels. He got to her first , she was sitting on the lawn with her head between her legs.

"It 's alright Muñeca , he is not here , he can't hurt you", Hector whispered as he sat down on the ground next to her.

She finally regained control of her breathing , Hector reset the security system from his tablet before helping Babe up off the lawn. Her body was violently quivering before Hector pulled her in to his arms.

"Shhhh Cariño , We are not going to let that man do anything to you," He cooed into her hair.

Hector kept an arm around her as he opened door to the truck , gently he lifted Stephanie into the back seat of SUV, then climbed in next to her and closed the door.

My mind was working in a very strange way at that moment , all I could think is , was Hector comforting my Babe? Did I just hear him call her Cariño (honey) and Muñeca (doll) ? I had said before we left Trenton ,that I needed to have Steph next to me today, and somehow, she was in the back seat in his arms, I was Jealous, of Hector.

*"Vamos, date prisa, este lugar es asustadizo por mi Nené ! ", Hector said in an annoyed voice.

Did he just tell me to hurry up and call her _his_ baby? I growled and shot him a deadly glare , but Hector was unfazed , something in me wanted to drag the man out of the truck kick his ass. " _Okay , this is just miss placed rage and aggression ,I am not really mad at Hector"_ I told my self as I angled in to the SUV and drove away from the property.

* come , on hurry this place is scary for my baby


	13. Could it Get Any Creepier

I slept the entire ride back to Trenton , and woke up with my head in Hector's lap when we parked in the Range man garage. As I sat up and exited the SUV, both men looked at me with concerned eyes.

"What , quit staring" I said walking to the elevator.

The two men joined me, when we stopped on five,Hector got off, Ranger and I headed up to seven.

I walked into the apartment first , with Ranger following on my heals. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling my back into to the front of him as he rested his chin on the top of my head. We stood like this for several minutes , him not wanting to release me. When he finally did, I quickly turned around to face him. I had moved too fast for him to hide the emotions swirling in the expression on his face. He wore a pained gaze , that was mingled with anger, worry , and a hint of sadness. I glanced away in a hurry, unable to stand what I was seeing. It felt like someone had kicked me in the stomach as I looked at Ranger, I hated doing this to him, knowing that expression he wore was because of me. I ran my hand across his cheek , then stood on my toes and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I'm fine Ranger, really I am" He looked at me in disbelief, and shook his head.

"It would be alright if you were not", he said quietly.

I gave him a dismissive nod , walked over to the sofa, and picked up the remote control. As I flipped though channels, thoughts of that room I visited today came back to mind. Something about what I had seen , where I had been, made me feel slimy , and I was overcome with an urge to shower. I bolted from the couch to the bathroom and in to a near scalding shower , where I stayed until the hot water ran cold. I turned off the water, pulled back the shower curtained, and almost screamed when I saw Ranger standing there holding a towel open for me.

"You forgot your towel" he said as he averted his eyes away from my naked body. Ranger wrapped the towel around me, and then left the bathroom.

I dried off and dresses in a pair leggings , an oversized fleece shirt, and a pair of soft fuzzy socks.

Ella had brought dinner ,and Ranger was seated at the small table, waiting for me when I came out of the bedroom. I sat down with him , and spooned a helping of the cheesy vegetable pasta casserole onto my plate. I was not the least bit hungry, but I forced down the food anyway. Ranger had been keeping track of my eating habits lately, and I did want see the questioning gaze he sent me when I did not want to eat.

Ranger's cell phone buzzed and he picked it up and took the call in the next room.

"That was Sebring , Kuzma is no longer FTA. The charges have been dropped , the victim does not remember a thing , surveillance footage has vanished ,and no one saw anything."

The food in my stomach felt heavy ,and nausea crept up my stomach and into throat. I tried to hold it down, but minutes later I was in the bathroom with my head in the toilet. After flushing the toilet, I leaned back against the sink, and closed my eyes. When I opened them, Ranger was slouched in the door frame looking down at me.

"I am fine"

"Yeah, I can see that", he said.

I narrowed my eyes at him and closed the bathroom door. Then I stood and freshened up so I no longer had vomit breath and exited the bathroom.

I sat down on the sofa next to Ranger.

"You know this may not be a bad thing Babe , he does not have to hide now , and could become easier to find", Ranger told me.

Before I had a chance respond my cell phone buzzed. I looked at it, but I did not recognize the phone number. I answered the phone on speaker, and heard bone chilling howl of pain.

"St - Stephanie I'm I'm ssorry " the voice on the other end of the phone stammered.

"I should not have touched you that night in the club" , the voice said in a thick Russian accent, and then the call ended.

"Dmitriy", Ranger said.

A cool shiver ran down my spine , "What do you think that was about? " , I ask.

"I guess Yuri did not like his brother's treatment of you that night and had him apologize"

* * *

The next morning I woke up at 5:45 when my phoned chimed with a text message. The picture above the message was of a large muscular forearm. A fresh brand had been painfully seared in to the underside onto the skin. It said "I will not touch my bother's things" in small lettered script. The text message read ,

 ** _"Sorry for him my pet, he will not touch you again love Yuri._**

I could not believe what I was seeing, this could not be what I thought it was.

After dressing for the bonds office , I waited for Ranger to return. As soon as he stepped foot in the door, I handed him my phone and showed him the message and picture.

He looked at the phone blank faced and then dialed Tank.

"Yo , change of plans, we are going need to put two men on Stephanie."

I watched Ranger forward the picture and message to his phone and then to Tank.

When I got down to the parking garage, Lester and Cal were waiting for me next to the Explorer. Lester drove, I rode shot gun, and Cal took the back.

Lula and Connie were all squeals when I arrived.

"Hey vixens ,you two don't see me standing here ?", Lester said.

"Vixens" ?

"Lester calls us Vincent's Vixens", Connie announced ," got a nice ring to it don't you think?"

"Hey white girl ,where you been hiding , we missed you", Lula said.

"Did not, I am sure you two loved having the Range men come in here so you could ogle them", I said playfully.

"True, but they don't know jack about girl talk or donuts", Lula replied.

"Vinnie threw a fit when Ranger called and said you were not going to be in for a few weeks , because the skip knocked you off the porch, called you a wimp and a slacker. I told him he is lucky you didn't file a worker comp suite against him", Connie said.

"So what do you have for me today?", I ask Connie.

She handed me a stack of files , and I scanned through them With Lester reading over my shoulder.

"Look at you, did you go on a diet? " Connie ask.

"You better cut that crap out , your going melt away to skin and bones , men don't like that ,trust me I know", Lula said.

"I'll see you two in a few" I said, "Got skips to find" ,I told them as I left.

By noon we had picked up three skips ,having Lester and Cal with me made things so much easier. It was just little afternoon when we all return to the bond office to give Connie the body receipts. Lula and Connie had four extra large pizzas on the desk and were having lunch.

"Wow hungry?" , I said.

This here is from the concerned citizens group of Trenton ,to thank us for cleaning up the community" , Lula explained.

"Yeah , the Pino's delivery guy said they called it in and had it sent, have a slice everyone.", Connie said.

Less and Cal helped themselves to the pizza , and I sat down on sofa. Lula put a slice of pepperoni on a plate ,and walked over and dropped into my lap. "Eat girl" she said eyeing me suspiciously.

Quietly I ate the slice and watched everyone as they talked and joked. When the door opened I jumped as saw Arman walk in to the office. Cal's eyes locked onto the man as he stood with his hand on the holstered weapon at his hip. Lester walked over to Cal and whispered something in to his ear, then he relaxed.

"What can we do for you?" ,Lester ask.

"I come in peace , I mean her no harm", Arman replied.

"You and your friend were not very peaceful at the club last week", Cal said.

Arman gave a soft chuckle, "Dmitriy is not my friend, I was babysitting. He can cause problems when Yuri is not around, as you saw for yourself."

"He is hot !" Lula said to Connie. They both fanned themselves as they looked at Arman.

"Yuri wanted me to give this to you", he said handing me an envelope with my name written in a elaborate calligraphy. I ran my fingers over the letters.

"Yuri does that himself" Arman said.

"Well good seeing you again Stephanie", Arman told me as he walked toward the door before stopping in front of Lula .

"What a beautiful Rubenesque women you are", he said to her as he kissed her hand , and exited the office.

Connie gave a high five to Lula. Then the two of them started to pester me about opening the envelope.

"No , it's private , I want to open it at home" I told them.

"Hey I am feeling good let's, hit happy hour tonight", Lula said.

"I'm game what about you Stephanie?", Connie ask.

"I will let you know after we get back from picking up some more skips."

I walked out of the door and Lester and Cal followed. Once we were outside Lester snatched the envelope from my hands.

"I need to make sure this thing is not ticking, does not contain venomous spiders, or anthrax", he said as he carefully opened it."

I watched Lester read the hand written letter on the familiar stationary. Lester finished the letter and handed it to me.

"This guy has it bad for you Steph", he said shaking his head.

 ** _Hello my lovely,_**

 ** _Glad to see you out and about again. No need to sequester yourself ,I mean you no harm. I need to return to my home country , Russia, and you my pet will accompany me. It's cold there this time a year you will need to shop for warm clothes. I know Macy's is your favorite store. Tatiana is from my home town she work there ,and is the wife of someone I know. She can help you select some things._**

 ** _Love,_**

 ** _Yuri_**

Attached to the letter was a Macy's gift card.

I gave an involuntary shiver as I put the letter back in the envelope and then in to my bag.

"Does he believe we are in a relationship? Russia , I am not going anywhere with him!"

"Hate break this to you Bomber, but I don't think that is an invitation, more like a declaration." Lester said as he angled into the Explorer.

"Oh boy"

"You need to go out with Lula and Connie tonight, we will work out surveillance for you. Kuzma can't chase you if you have no social life" Lester informed me.

"Does Ranger know about this ?" I ask.

"Sure does , I sent him a text message and that is what he told me"

* * *

The three of us strolled into "Wild Flower Too", and found a table. All three of us ordered Margaritas and an appetizer platter to share. I listened to Connie and Lula gush about how handsome Arman was. My eyes continues to scan the room. Bobby and Hal were seated in a booth near the back of the bar.

"What is wrong with you Stephanie?", Connie ask.

"Oh were you saying something?"

"Yeah" Lula said "where did you meet that hottie" ?

"At the club , you know the one where Jamal works , by the way he said call him" I answered.

"Jamal he is fine too", Lula said.

"How is school going ?"I ask Lula.

"Alright I guess ,but they got all of these humanity requirements and prerequisites. Now I gotta take math and Art history. Can either of you help me out, I don't nothing bout Art history", Lula complained.

"Me neither", Connie said.

"Don't look me I had to take math three times", I told Lula.

We sipped our drinks, I picked at the appetizers, Connie and Lula brought me up to speed on the latest gossip. Once I was able to relax , I had a good time ,and was glad I went out.

When we finished our drinks, we flagged the waitress down and ask for the check.

"That gorgeous guy over there paid the tab for your table" she informed us pointing to a man seated at the bar.

I didn't recognize him, but something about it felt off.

A handsome man sauntered over to the table.

"Hello ladies" he said with eyes focused on Connie before he took her hand and kissed it "I am Adrian, and I could not take my eyes off you."

He took a card from his pocket and handed to Connie , "I would love it if you were to call me" he said before leaving the table.

Lula and Connie gave each other a high five and then fanned themselves.

As we parked in the Range man garage, my phone buzzed with a text message.

 _ **"All work and no play makes Stephanie a boring girl and Yuri does not do boring. Nice to see you having a good time with friends."**_

"He is watching me ", I whispered to Bobby before handing him the phone.

"I'll get this back to you", he said taking my phone with him as he exited the SUV.

When the elevator door opened on seven Ranger was standing there, and I screamed and almost jumped out of my skin.

"Sorry Babe,I was on my way down" he said stepping into the elevator. I fished the card from Yuri out of my bag and handed it to him before going into the apartment.

I showered and changed into a pair of soft pajamas ,then sat down in the den to watch television and wait up for Ranger. A couple of hours later , he returned with my phone and the gift card.

"Nothing unusual about the gift card , paid for in cash it has five thousand dollars on it, no way to trace it. The calls from Kuzma are coming from a satellite phone, so there is no way trace them or even get a cell tower location. Hector cloned your cell phone, he can see and track all activity on it , that means apps , pictures , calls , text , passwords ,everything. So if you don't want Range man in on it , don't use your phone to do it." Ranger explained.

"Guess that means I will have to stop sexting", I joked. Ranger laughed out loud.

The next morning I was awaken by the sound of text message from my phone.

 ** _"Good morning my pet have a great day at work be safe"_**

 ** _Yuri_**

I rolled my eyes when I looked at the clock, 5:45 A.M. I got up and jumped in the shower to get ready for work. After getting dressed, I decided on a single French braid for today , my hair was starting to fill in again in the spot where it had been torn out that night. I applied my eyeliner and mascara , then I was ready to go.

When I got down stairs, I was surprised to see Lester and Ram waiting for me.

"Where is Cal?", I ask.

"Sprained his wrist this morning on our run when he tripped and fell", Lester answered.

We already had a few files left over so there was no need to stop at the bond's office. By the time we had picked up the skips, it was well past lunch time and we headed over to see if Connie had anything else for me.

When I walked in the door ,I could not believe what I was seeing, Connie was seated on the couch, and Lula had her books out and was sitting at Connie's desk with Arman. Lester looked at me and I looked at him and shrugged.

"Hey Lula I said how's it going?"

"It's going just great now ,do you know that this man has a PhD in Art History , he is an art buyer for rich folk. He's helping me with my home work."

I nodded, this was weird, really weird. "So Arman ,what brings you here today?", I ask suspiciously.

"Ah, you are waiting to hear from your admirer?", Arman laughed softy. "I delivered this these for him, there is a card", he said pointing to the roses on Connie's desk."

The phone rang and Connie jumped up to answered it. I listen to her talk for a few minutes and then hang up.

"Stephanie, the desk sergeant forgot to give you one of your body receipts , he is off duty in twenty minutes , so he needs you to go pick it now", Connie told me.

"Let's go" Lester said as he took the card from roses placing it into his pocket.

"I have go to the little girls room first" ,I said.

"Can't you wait, it is not like you are five, it's only going take us a few minutes, and we will be right back", Ram complained.

" Yes, come on",I said walking out the door.

We were able to get a parking spot right in front of the police station.

"You are up Ram", Lester told him.

"What" ?

"I went last time, it's your turn."

"We are parked right in front of the station , a police station, she can mange", Ram grumbled.

"Didn't Tank tell you she is not to let out our sight ?"

Ram let out an exasperated grunt, and then got out of the SUV. The desk sergeant had stepped away for what was supposed to be a minute, but turned into more than thirty. He handed me the body receipt , and I folded it and put in my bag.

I walked toward the rear of the station where the restrooms were located, and Ram followed me. When we got to the door he stopped.

"I'll baby sit, but I draw the line at the ladies room", he said.

"I'm not asking you to come in the stall with me, it's a big bathroom you won't be anywhere near me", I said as I fidgeted, barely able to hold my bladder.

"Nope not going happen", he told me.

I rushed in to the restroom, danced as I covered the toilet seat took, and care of business.

The bathroom was eerily quiet for the ladies room. There was no chatter , no rhythmic sound of high heels on the tile , no sounds of mothers quieting crying babies. Something did not feel right , and I was nervous. It did not matter that Ram was right outside the door, I was in here all alone. I looked in my bag for hand sanitizer , I did not plan on stopping for anything once I left the stall. After cleaning my hands, I checked my clothes, unlocked the door to the stall ,and rocketed towards the bathroom door. Suddenly rough hands jerked me backward , when I tried to scream , a cloth that had a pungent stench was shoved over my nose and mouth. As I fought to get away, I was dragged toward the window, and soon felt myself drifting into unconsciousness.


	14. Kuzma can't keep my Babe

"You wanna run that by me a again ?" I thundered at Ram. My knees were in his chest and I had my weapon pressed painfully in to his forehead with my finger on the trigger.

"Tank we a have a situation in here , hurry man !" I heard Lester call from behind me.

I heard Bobby and Tank enter my office at the same time.

"What is the situation other than the state of this office?" Bobby said.

"Why is the furniture like this , and what is with the huge hole in the wall, where is Ranger ?" , Tank questioned.

"Down there, behind the desk" Santos informed Tank and Bobby.

I could feel the men walked around the toppled desk as they stared at the two of us.

"What hell is going here Santos , how did you let this happen , you should have called me sooner!" Tank barked.

"Ranger did this as soon as the words left his mouth. In like two minutes flat, he had Ram by the neck, threw him into the wall , picked the man up by his shirt, and delivered several blows to his head and face. Then he demanded Ram get up , when he did , Ranger took a running leap and tackled him, knocking both Ram and the desk to the floor. Next thing I know, he is in the mans chest with a gun to his head.", Lester explained.

"What words did he say ?" Tank ask.

"Sorry boss , I messed up Stephanie is gone I lost her", Santos repeated.

"Awe hell no , he is on his own , let Ranger kill the moron !" Bobby yelled.

"Brown don't you dare leave this damn room ! " , Tank ordered.

"Tank he's got the safety off , gun cocked and finger in the trigger, if we try to pull him off, he is going to fire a shot off in to Rams head", Santos said.

"I don't see a problem with that" , Bobby announced.

"Ranger you're wasting time here , killing Ram is not going to find Bomber , stop this now." Tank reasoned

"Need answers , he won't talk", I hissed.

"He can't talk , the man is barley conscious", Santos stated.

"Come on Ranger, how do think she is going to feel when she finds out you did this?" Tank ask.

I thought about my Babe , he was right, she would not like this. After taking my finger off the trigger I engaged the safety pin on my gun and placed it back in the holster.

Tank and Santos took hold of my shoulders and hauled me to my feet and off of Ram.

"Zip , Manny, get in here !" , Tank ordered.

The two men came running in and Tank had them take Ram to the infirmary. Bobby righted a chair that I had turned over and sat down.

"What the hell do you think you are doing Brown?" Tank demanded to know.

"Nothing ,that is exactly what I am going to do for that man, nothing" Bobby replied calmly.

I shot Brown a glare and he got to his feet and on his way.

Turning to Lester I said "report".

"We went to the cop shop to pick up a receipt, Ram went in with her. After sitting in the SUV for more than hour , I went in to find out what the problem was. I found Ram standing in front of the ladies room and he said Stephanie had been in there forever. When I went entered the ladies room , her purse, phone and shoe were scattered around the rest room and the window was opened, the other shoe was on the ground in front of the window", Santos reported.

"I talked to the TPD , they said it's too soon to report her as a missing person. There is no surveillance cameras near the restroom or the rear of the police station. Constanza and Big dog are worried and said they would see would they could do." Santos added.

"Call a code red, have every Range man available come in and call in the contract workers in also ", I told Tank. We will all meet in conference room A in an hour. Tank and Lester left my office.

I had been in IED explosion , was captured, held hostage and tortured in third world countries , and shot at countless times. I can't remember ever feeling the fear that I was experiencing at this moment. The idea of my Babe being in this man's possession had a surge of complicated emotions coursing though my veins. My mood was damn near manic and I was struggling to maintain normal communication in the same manner most people do. All I wanted to do was bark orders and give curt one word answers. I did not have to struggle to keep alert , I was hyper focused and all my senses were thrown into over drive. What was going to happen if my Babe did not come home , NO , that was not going to happen! That man was not going to get the chance to put her on a plane and bend her mind and emotions to his will, but what if he did. Worst yet what if the feisty Jersey girl was able to resist that psychotic man ? He had already beaten her when she refused to go with him , what would he do if she did not fall madly in love with him and into his bed? Either way she was incredibly vulnerable to Kuzma. A furry of anger shot though my body just as Manny ran into my office unannounced. I delivered a quick sharp left hook to his face and the man dropped like a ton bricks.

"Knock next time !" I snarled to his unconscious body.

"Get yourself together Manoso , you have work to do ! " Tank snapped from the door way.

I picked up the phone and dialed Hector then instructed him to see if he could locate anymore properties Kuzma may be holding under an alias and to review the contents of his hard drive for any information that could help us track down Kuzma. Thirty minutes later Hector was in my office, he had found a dozen more properties under a hidden corporation Kuzma owned. Hector was also chasing a lead on private unlisted cell phone number and the towers it was pinging off of.

I took the information Hector had given me and along with the file that Stephanie had made. I organized the properties as well as places he was known to frequent. After organizing the information I made copies for each team. Then headed up to the conference room. Tank had already started the meeting without me so all I had to do was give out the assignments. Every team had a list of addresses to search as well as people to speak with.

"Rodriguez , Hector ,Vince ,Sybo , and Raphael , you will stay here and be command central", I explained. All of you will man the phones , monitor and leads that come in. Each of you will be responsible for managing communication and networking through out the various teams", I instructed.

Hector was posted up in the corner of the conference room , he stepped forward to speak.

"Not now Hector , if we need tech , I give you call" I told him

" Boss , I think I can help you, based on the information I received and the algorithms of the triangulation from some of the last text messages , you could be going in the wrong direction with …"

"Shut up Hector!" I barked We got this cover.

"You need to listen to me boss" , he insisted.

"No you need to learn to follow the chain of command" I growled.

"Your ego and stubbornness are not doing _her a_ ny favors", Hector said in a low threatening voice as he stepped in close to me.

"Back up , don't make me kick your ass in front of all of Range man ! " I warned Hector.

"Don't make me knock _you_ on your ass in front of all these men", Hector countered.

I yoked Hector up by the front of his shirt and before I knew what was happening , he had me face down on the conference table.

"That is enough fun and games you two" Tank bellowed.

Hector released me and let out a sickening laugh "yeah , we just playin" he said but the look in his eyes was lethal.

The men looked at me then to Tank, I could tell they were wondering I was loosing control.

"You have your assignments get going !" I ordered.

They all jumped to attention. The men all raced to the parking garage with their partners and piled in to their vehicles to go look for my Babe.

I walked over to the turbo where Tank was waiting. My phone buzzed, the caller ID said it was Lester.

"Yo" , I answered.

"Change of plans, Bobby and me have added a new partner to our team. Hector has got a good lead Ranger, and we are going see how it plays out", Lester informed me.

"Santos I am going kick your ass, then Bobby's and when I am though I am …"

"Look here you arrogant prick, we are not about to leave any stone unturned just because"…..

"Lester if you value your job and your life"….

"I don't care" Santos interrupted, write me up for insubordination , give me latrine duty, shoot me , whatever. Hector has got good Intel and it is worth checking out ."

Then he hung up on me.


	15. Kidnapped

My eyes struggled to focus, and I felt my arms painfully restrained to the chair. The cold steel handcuffs cut into the bruised skin on wrist ,I could feel the blood seeping from the wounds and down to the chair. A pair of slate blue eyes stared at me, and I heard a crazed cackle fill the room.

"Where am?", I ask.

"In my bedroom , at my home. You slept the entire drive to New York".

I still was having a difficult time focusing ,my eyes felt so heavy.

"I think I owe you something my dear" , he said as a drink was thrown in my face, and then I was viciously backhanded. That is when my grogginess wore off and the clarity of my vision was regained.

"Not so fiery without your goon squad, huh Stephanie"?

"Dmitriy"?

"Yes , were you expecting someone else?" , he laughed softly.

"Yuri is so stingy , he has been selfish ever since he we were children. He never shared toys or sweets with me. Now , I have one of his sweets , Dmitriy mused, as he ran his hand between my thighs.

Defensively I brought my leg up , and kicked him in the chest. "Don't put your hands on me!", I screamed.

Dmitriy calmly backed away , sat down , pulled a cigar from his pocket, then he lit it, and took a few puffs.

"That is right , I am not allowed to touch Yuri's things", he sneered ,holding up his forearm, displaying the words branded into his skin.

The large man strode over to the chair where I was cuffed. Dmitriy took another large drag from the cigar and exhaled directly in to my face. Then he took his cigar and pressed it painfully in to my arm, burning me again and again. I lost count of the number of times he tortured me with the cigar. The pain consumed my body, leaving me shocked and confused. Painful burns went from shoulder to wrist .

"Yuri is lending you out tonight, he does not know this yet. My brother needs to learn that sharing is caring", Dmitriy said, as he nuzzled my neck.

"I don't know who is crazier, you or your brother" , I muttered.

The comment was answered with a sharp right hook to my face. I inhaled sharpely as pain exploded though my eye.

" Say what you want about me , but you don't talk about Yuri that way , he loves you" !

"Some woman are so ungrateful , do you know how many ladies are throwing themselves at my brother? What they would give to share his bed for the night ? Yuri does not want you for the night, he plans to make you his wife. Show the man some respect , he is going to be your husband!", Dmitriy ranted.

"So you think Yuri is going to be alright with what you are doing to me ? " , I ask.

Another soft laugh escaped from the large man's throat. "Of course not, but I am his baby bother, and Yuri can never stay mad at me for long. Besides , when I drop you in his lap gift wrapped, he will appreciate it. My brother as been tip toeing around you for weeks , it has been couple of months now since the night he met you. I told him he should have just come in while you were sleeping , and taken you with him. No, not Yuri, he said he does not want to further traumatize you. Said he wants to entice you , charm you , seduces you. A woman should know her place with a man , you will learn that tonight , Dmitriy will teach you", He cooed.

I watched him as he took a key from his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs on both of my wrist.

"Get up!", he ordered.

When I tried to stand my legs were shaking, then I fell back into the seat. Anger flashed across Dmitriy's face as he grasp one of my painfully injured wrist, and jerked me to my feet.

"Take your clothes off !", Dmitriy barked.

"Excuse me, what" ?

Without warning Dmitriy slapped me hard , knocking me off my feet. I was hands and knees on the floor , my ears were ringing.

"You don't follow orders so well do you ?" , he hissed. "Now get up and take off your clothes", he demanded again. His eyes darkened , and rage was etched on his face.

"Why ?", I ask cautiously.

"Why do you think , clothes off now " !

When I did not move, Dmitriy viciously began to deliver several swift kicks to my mid section , leaving me breathless. I collapsed in to a heap on the floor trying not to vomit.

"Get up now", he ordered , his voice was an icy calm.

Slowly I made it back to my feet , using the wall to keep me steady. I watched Dmitriy take off his blazer exposing a harnessed gun. Then he took the gun and placed it on the night stand next to the bed. The gun slid off and fell between the wall and the mattress , he made no attempt to retrieve the weapon. Next Dmitriy threw the leather shoulder harness to the floor , and then peeled off his tee shirt to reveal his well defined physique. He pulled a switch blade from the back pocket of his jeans , open it and tossed the knife on to the bed. Then I watched him unfasten his belt and take off his jeans. Dmitriy stalked over to me and violently shoved me against the wall .I was pinned to the wall by his large frame, unable to move. He grabbed my hand and forced it into his boxers.

"This is going to be exciting , you can feel just how excited I am , can't you Stephanie ?", he said , with a smile curling at the corners of his mouth. Dmitriy backed up and looked at me ,then said , "your turn , last time I am going to ask"." Take off your clothes".

Anger , fear, and Adrenalin bubbled to the surface inside me , I was not just going to let this man do this to me ! If Dmitriy planned to go though with this, he was going to have to work for it , fight me for it.

" No "!

Dmitriy walked back to the bed , he picked up the knife and held it to my neck , "Still no?", he whispered.

"You wouldn't, something tells me you like your women alive and kicking. Are you ready to be kicked?" I challenged, Just before kneeing him in the stomach.

I was aiming for his groin , but he was able too quickly dodge the blow. Still the knee to the stomach was enough to make him move the knife.

I tried to run , and then I felt a kick to the back of my knee sweep me off my feet. Dmitriy rushed over to me, as I protectively curled in to a ball. Once again he brutally kicked me several times , this time in my lower back. Next he held the tail of my shirt and violently tore it from my back. Dmitriy lifted me to my feet by the waist band of my jeans , then he took the knife and cut the bra from my body. Suddenly I was airborne , as I flew about twenty feet across the room to the bed and landed hard onto the mattress. The wind was knocked out of me and I was left gasping. While I struggle to breath, Dmitriy unbuttoned my jeans, and in one sweep he had me out of them, along with my panties. I was lying there exposed , naked , my heart was beating a mile a minute. As soon as my lungs were filled , I began to kick him in the stomach over and over again. I saw the pain register in his eyes , and then Dmitriy used his body weight to pin my torso to the bed with my arms trapped. Instantly my legs clamped together , knees locked together ,ankles crossed.

"Enough !", he screamed.

He straddled me using his knees to keep my arms pinned to the bed. I kept my leg legs locked together.

Slowly Dmitriy kissed his way down neck lingering at each of my breast , then to my stomach. I whimpered unable to free myself from the large man. When he tried to get between my leg, he was unable to pry them apart.

"Relax you will enjoy this, the ladies love me", he whispered.

A chill ran down my spine and I clamped my legs even tighter.

"Stop with the games!", he demanded , as he clawed at my thighs leaving deep bloody gashes, then he tired to wedge one of his knees between my legs.

I used every in muscle in my body to keep my legs closed. I felt a quick sharp pain shooting though both of my thighs , and I realized that he was slashing at my legs with the knife. My hands were now free and I began to claw at his face. Dmitriy wailed in pain, then I hit him with a sharp right jab to the his nose, that is when I heard a crunching sound , and blood sprayed onto the over priced luxury linens. This threw Dmitriy in to a frenzy of rage , as he began to pummel my entire body with his fist. My arm ,legs, and ,stomach, all were victim to his relentless blows. I used my arms to protect my head and face. When he finished his latest assault , he sat up and looked at me panting from exertion. Then he took his fore arm and pressed it onto my neck. Dmitriy applied firm steady pressure until I started to feel light headed, my eyes watered , and then I slowly fought to keep myself from passing out. I was losing , weakness started to take over. The struggle to keep my legs closed had been lost. I could feel his arousal between my thighs seeking entry. NO, NO, NO , this can't happen I thought to myself , my mind raced searching for a plan to stop him as my lungs fought for air.

Suddenly ,I fell off the bed and rolled onto the floor as Dmitriy's crushing weight had vanished , and there was no arm against my throat. In an effort to cover my nude body , I huddled against the bed as I brought my knees to my chest crossed at the ankles, then tucked my chin over my legs with my arms securely wrapped around myself.

I could see a large muscular man holding Dmitriy off the ground by his neck, then fling him violently into the wall , leaving a hole in the dry wall. Heavy boots stalked over to the crumpled man, then gave him a brutal kick to the head knocking Dmitriy unconscious.

Right on time , I thought as I looked at the man who had come to my rescue ,and stopped Dmitriy. Prevented him from committing an a assault on my body that I had never experienced before. My mind thought back to the times I had been beaten , shot , kidnapped , and burned before, but what this man was _trying_ to do, was new horror I had not ever suffered.

* * *

Feed back is welcome , let me know what you think.


	16. My Hero

I sat huddled against the bed violently trembling , cold and naked. My hero took off his shirt and crouched down next to me. Gently he took me in his arms as he helped me into the shirt. My mind was still struggling to process what I had just gone though as my hero pulled me in to his lap and soothingly rocked me.

"It's okay now, I'm here. You are going to be alright", he cooed as he whispered to me.

He looked down at me with concern overflowing from his eyes , waiting for me to say something. I opened my mouth to speak but I could not find the words express anything I was feeling at the moment.

"Can you talk? " he ask.

I nodded my head, and he exhaled a relieved breath.

"It's alright , you don't have to say anything, I understand".

As I heard Dmitriy murmur , panic and terror gripped me. My first reaction was to jump up and run from the room. Before I could , a strong arm secured to his lap by my waist.

" Dmitriy is not going to hurt again. You are safe now, I'm here."

The timbre of his voice was smooth , low, calming, and seductive. I could not help but to relax as this man spoke to me. For the first time tonight, I let myself feel safe in his arms , allowed his calm to rush over me as I closed my eyes and rested against his chest for a few minutes.

Then I looked into those slate blue eyes and remembered that this man was no hero. Yuri may have saved me from his brother, but he was still a would be kidnapper.

" Let me go" I pleaded.

"What are you talking about my pet , you are mine" , he cooed.

"No I am not", I whispered.

"Look at you , he did not have to do this, I am sorry my brother is ill-mannered , he does not know how to respect women" Yuri told me.

"I want to go home , please Yuri".

"Your home is with me now Stephanie".

I winced in pain as his hold intensified around my waist.

"How bad are you hurt ,I will get you help. This is why I never shared anything with Dmitriy, he is always so rough with everything. He has no idea how to treat a woman ,but he knows better than to treat my things so abusively. All of my belongings are to be handled with care ".

I continued to struggle to get away from Yuri's grip.

"Stop it", he barked "you are going to aggravate your injuries."

"I have to go the bathroom" , I explained.

"You should have just told me that" he said , as he helped me to my feet guiding me to the bathroom.

Yuri opened the door and backed away " I will give you some privacy" he told me.

I sat down and relived myself ,when I stood I was shocked by what I saw. The toilet bowel was red , I was urinating blood. I wiped myself, washed my hands ,then steadied myself against the sink. " _You are going to be okay Stef , it's not that bad "_ I told myself. Once again I was willingly diving head first into denial. I made sure avoided the mirror as I exited the bathroom.

When I entered the bedroom Yuri was standing in the doorway waiting for me.

" Ready to go my lovely ?"

" Go where ?"

"Well ,we were headed to the airport, but clearly you need medical attention , you can not fly in this physical condition. I have a friend who handles situations like this ,since taking you to the hospital is out of the question. As soon as your injuries heal, we are off to Russia." Yuri explained.

"How did you know I was here ?", I ask , stalling for time while I figured out what to do next.

" When you went missing from the police station , your friend Lula mentioned it to Arman. You know he really is quite smitten with her. Any way Arman notified me immediately. I knew I did not have you and then I realized Dmitriy had gone MIA. He was not answering his phone. That is when knew I had to come here to his home to find you" he answered.

Yuri threw an arm around my shoulder and guided me to an over stuffed arm chair. He sat me in the chair and then pulled out a set padded leather cuffs.

"See, I am not like Dmitriy. I don't want to hurt you, I know how to be gentle. Now give me your wrist", Yuri told me .

I shook my head no.

"Stephanie , you know I don't like it when you tell me no. Please follow directions", he said quietly.

"I don't want to go with you , I have friends and family in Trenton, there is nothing for me in Russia." I told Yuri as I tried to get him to see that I was not one of his acquisition , that I was a person.

" Yes I know Lula and Connie, your friends they are waiting for you on my personal plane as we speak. If you think you will get lonely, I can send them on ahead and when we get to Russia, you will have company. They will not live with us of course. Lula is going to make a fine present for Arman , he has no idea , I can't wait to surprise him. And Connie will be looked after by Adrian , you will remember him from the bar , he paid your tab for me. Adrian is looking forward to having a new woman."

"You can't do that , they have nothing to do with this , let them go !", I demanded.

"Relax no one has hurt them, if you don't need your friends I will let them go home. Adrian will be disappointed. But if you are going to come with me and cooperate, there is no need to bring them along. Now give me your wrist Stephanie" Yuri said , sweetly.

I stood and held out me left arm to him. The corners of Yuri's mouth curled into a smile

"Good girl" he said .

When he hesitated, I made my move , by kneeing him in the groin ,then I ran. Before I could get to the bedroom door, I felt my left arm being violently jerked backwards as I experienced a painful pop though out my entire shoulder. Yuri shoved me to the floor face down, then placed his knee in my back as he hissed though his pain.

"Why do you misbehave my pet ,you know it makes me do things I can't control. You are making me lose my temper ! Yuri growled , his voice low, soft, and dangerous.

He rolled me over on my back , and I could see his slate blue eyes had dilated black with anger.

I scrambled to get him off my body as he tried to cuff me. Quickly his anger flared.

"Why do like to do things the hard way, just follow my orders and things will go smoothly!", Yuri screamed.

I brought my right arm up and elbowed him in face. This piqued his anger, Yuri grasp my hair and began to viciously slam my head in to the wooden floor over and over again. I sensed he was trying to knock me out and adrenalin kicked in as I willed myself to stay conscious.

When he let go , I slid out from beneath him and sat up. Quickly I scooted under the bed as I attempted to place myself out of Yuri's reach. That is when I felt it , the gun Dmitriy had dropped. I retrieved the weapon with my right hand just as Yuri roughly dragged me out from under the bed by my ankle. Immediately I curled onto my side, to conceal the weapon.

"I did not come here to hurt you, but you make me do these things Stephanie !", Yuri roared.

"Why don't you cooperate , follow orders ,save us both a lot of time and trouble , spare yourself a great deal of physical pain ?" Yuri ranted.

"Answer me !", he demanded, delivering his words along with a swift kick to my ribs.

Dmitriy stirred again , he was speaking in a low murmur and I could hear him as he attempted to stand or sit up unsuccessfully. Yuri heard him too , when he turn to investigate , painfully I sat up. Then I shot him. The bullet pierced his back on his the left side. Yuri staggered briefly and then collapsed in a heap in front of his brother. Dmitriy's eyes widened in shock and then turned into angry daggers aimed at me. My head was foggy from the assault I had just suffered. Unsure if Dmitriy would be able to come after me , if Yuri was dead , or if I could mange to properly aim another shot in my condition, I decided it would be best to just get away from these two. I scrambled to my feet and out of the bedroom. The house was dark and I struggled to navigate my way down the stair to the entrance of the home in my unfamiliar surroundings. After locating the front door, I tried to leave , but it would not open. I stared at the digital deadbolt and knew I would not be escaping though this exit. Panic rose as my heart pounded when I heard slow foot steps moving around upstairs. Quickly I fumbled around in the dark, searching for an exit or a place to hide. I found a small butler's pantry just off the kitchen and decided it would make a good hiding place. The tiny room had metal storage racks bolted to the floor, creating narrow isles that were ideal for hiding. This small closet was designed to be used for by woman , maids and cooks , not broad shouldered towering men. Even if I was found neither man could easily reach me, if at all.

I crouched back against the wall with gun in hand, ready to fire. It was quiet for what seemed like hours, but I know it had only been minutes. Then I heard foot steps advancing in my direction , my breathing hastened and I fought to keep myself from hyperventilating. Did he know, had he found me ,which one of them was it?


	17. Where is Ranger

Quiet foot steps stalked me into the kitchen.

"Come out, come out , I know where you are", Dmitriy taunted.

He stood in front of the door way to the butlers pantry, the man was shirtless wearing only a pair of boxers and jeans. Nervously I watched as he tried unsuccessfully to manipulate his large form to get into the butler's panty.

"You can't stay in there forever and if you try, I will phone someone to go in and retrieve you."

"Do you really want to get someone shot , I have a gun and if you or anyone else come near me I will shoot," I warned Dmitriy.

"You killed my brother and I will make you pay , you are coming out of there one way or a another"! Dmitriy screamed.

I lifted the gun took aim and fired at his head. Dmitriy was struck superficially on the right side of his head, and his ear was left dangling as blood gushed from the wound. He howled in pain and fled before I could shoot again.

Dmitriy returned with a small can of butane and matches.

"Last warning drop the gun and come out."

He opened the can squirted a stack of linen napkins and then carefully placed the can on the counter behind him. The crazed man struck a match and held it poised to fling it into the pantry.

"You would really burn your own house down just to get me out of here" !

"No" he said firmly , pointing to a fire extinguisher.

I looked at the match in his hand and debated what was the greater threat, my head was spinning and my body ached. Tears streamed down my face and I whimpered in fear as time seemed to stand still.

Suddenly Yuri's voice boomed though the quiet, startling both me and Dmitriy.

"What I have told you about mistreating my personal belonging", he bellowed to his brother.

Dmitriy was so startled he dropped the match setting his pants on fire. The large man raced around the kitchen screaming until Yuri triped his brother making him fall to the ground.

" Stop. Drop. and roll idiot." Yuri said calmly, before picking up the fire extinguisher with one arm and dousing the flames licking up the waist band of Dmitriy's boxers and down the legs of his jeans.

"You are dead she killed you", he stammered to his older brother.

"She did not kill me, I was knocked out and I think my shoulder has been shattered by the bullet. Leave her be she meant no harm, look at her, she is just a scared little rabbit" Yuri said sympathetically .

"Scared little rabbit , she is wildly insane and has shot both of us tonight" Dmitriy complained. "I know what to do with insolent woman like her big brother, you are going about this all wrong".

"You will not harm her again , she is mine , I will not allow you to damage her any further"!

The two men began to argue , then we all heard the digital lock chime and the front door opened. Yuri and Dmitriy both turned toward the door, I took the opportunity fire off another shot, but my arm was shaking so badly I missed both men.

"Drop your weapon", a voice shouted.

Multiple foot steps charged into the kitchen. The sudden chaos caused me to drop the gun, it slid out of the pantry and across the kitchen floor. I pressed myself protectively against the wall of my hiding place.

Yuri was tackled to the ground and his brother was cuffed from where he sat on the kitchen floor.

I saw a slim dark man pulled a knife from his waistband , he crouched in front of both men.

"Where is she"? he demanded. "Tell me or I will kill you" Hector hissed.

Yuri laughed at the much smaller man "She is mine".

Hector pulled a gun and pressed it to Yuri's head, he had his finger on the trigger. Panic took over me, my stomach dropped , if he killed Yuri what would happen to Lula and Connie ?

"NO , NO" ! I screamed. "Lula and Connie, Lula and Connie , Lula and Connie" , I repeated over and over again, in a hysterical voice I did not recognize.

Hector lowered his gun turned around and looked into the pantry, then Lester stepped in to view, I could see he was on his phone.

"No can do man I am in the middle of something, Naw man just listen, Ranger you are going to want to... Hello , Hello ?" Then he slid his phone back into the pocket of his black cargos.

"I think she is losing it" Bobby said.

"We need to get her to come out of there" Hector whispered.

"What is she saying, I can't understand her, she is not making sense" Lester told Bobby and Hector.

"I think it's something about Lula" Bobby muttered.

"Ohh it makes sense now, that's what Ranger was talking about. They are safe Beautiful , Tank and Ranger found the vixens." Lester told me.

I slid down the wall relieved , but still not feeling safe, Yuri was too close for comfort. There was no way I was coming out, the pantry felt cozy and comfortable, no I was not ready to join the men in the kitchen.

Bobby stepped into view and shined a flashlight into the pantry. I squinted at the sudden invasion of light. Concerned eyes took in my battered body. Bobby stood there frozen in silence, he opened his mouth to speak but could not seem to find the words.

"Close your mouth Brown there are no flies to catch" I told him.

"Bomber … you need to come out of there, let me take a look at you" , he said as his voice caught in his throat. I watched Bobby duck, twist, and turn sideways as he attempted to maneuver into the too small space.

My body was beginning to tremble uncontrollably , the adrenalin high was wearing off and suddenly my mind ,body and heart wanted Ranger. My heart needed to feel his calm, my body ached for the comfort of his arms, and my mind wished for the soothing sound of his voice.

" Where is Ranger" ?

"He is not here, it is just us, but if you come out of there we can take you too him" Bobby said gently.

"You are lying , none of you have talked to him, and I think he just hung up on Lester" "Get me Ranger and I will come out ", I told Bobby.

Bobby took out his phone and placed a call , he walked out of view and I heard him talking to Lester and Hector. The men were beginning to argue. I could only catch snippets of their conversation, but I knew that they were talking about me and I did not like it.

"Stop it"! Stop talking about me like I am not here , _talk to me_. What is going on , where is Ranger ,why isn't he at least on the phone" ?

They all stood there shocked by my outburst, no one answered me. Hector took out his phone and sent a text message. A few minutes later it chimed with a reply.

"You got him ?" Lester ask.

Hector held up his hand for Lester to be quiet and continued to text.

"It 's alright Muñeca we are going to get him here, so why don't you come out here and wait" Hector said.

Then he noticed me staring at Yuri and he motioned for Lester and Bobby to get him and Dmitiry out of the room.

Hector's phone buzzed in his pocket he looked at it hit a button and then eased back into his shirt pocket.

"It is just us in here now Stephanie we won't let Yuri or Dmitriy hurt you". Lester assured me.

"Oooh you promise , seems like I have heard that a time or two before" I hissed sarcastically.

"Bomber you need to get out here, from what I could see, you look pretty banged up", Bobby pleaded,

"Well thank you for your professional opinion captain obvious , but if you want me out there with you, figure out a way to get damn your boss here." I retorted.

A dull pain in my head was throbbing and I was still trembling ,dizziness was starting to set in and every breath I inhaled felt like fire. On top of everything the three stooges here could not understand that I was not leaving this pantry until Ranger was here.

"Look Beautiful we know you have …."

"You know what Santos ,you don't know a damn thing. Do know you what it is like to be scared to go outside, to answer your phone? Got any idea what it feels like to be so afraid of going to the ladies room alone that you actually contemplate peeing on yourself ? Guess I made the wrong choice there huh " I laughed.

"That's not what he means Stephanie, Lester was just saying he understands, that you…."

" Shut up Bobby, I don't want to hear what he understands because could possibly get it." I snapped.

"Hey Lester, do you understand what it is like to have strange dick between your thighs and fight to keep out of you , bet you don't", I said and then I laughed myself in to a frenzy that ended in a coughing fit.

"Steph can you take it easy, I'm worried you could really being doing some damage to whatever injuries you have suffered. Getting all worked up like this can effect your breathing , blood pressure and heart rate" Bobby informed me.

"He's not coming is he?" I said. Then suddenly all of the frustration over the status of our relationship bubbled over.

"He loves me in his own way , have you ever heard a bigger load of crap in your life. What does that even mean!" His type of love come with a condom not a ring. He can keep the ring ,I would settle for a commitment or at lest a title, hell I will even accept a Face Book status. He told me he is the dessert in my life, how stupid a thing is that to say , because anyone who knows Stephanie Plum, knows I could live on dessert. Everything that man says is so confusing, but you know what was really confusing, when he told me to get back with Morelli. If Ranger does not want me, there was no reason to send me back there to that train wreck of a relationship with that man", I ranted.

All three men stared at me in disbelief. The look one their faces sent me into another tizzy of uncontrollable laughter. Bobby raised an eyebrow at me.

" Relax Cariño , Ranger is on his way" Hector said firmly. Bobby and Lester glared at Hector, uncertainty flowing though there eyes.


	18. I'm on My Way Babe

Me and Tank had covered 5 properties and three states looking for Stephanie. It had been hours since my Babe went missing , everyone was beginning to get tired and frustrated with the way Stephanie and Kuzma appeared to vanished into thin air. Our latest lead we were following had sent us to a private airstrip. As I pulled up nervous energy flowed though me like electricity. When it came to my Babe I had to work extra hard to stay calm.  
I pulled the Turbo on to the tarmac and parked out of sight just in case someone was watching. The luxury jet appeared to be ready for a flight. As I bounded the stairs two at a time, then opened the door, I braced myself for what I might find. Still I could not believe what I was seeing , Lula and Connie had been blindfolded , gagged and handcuffed to the seats. Both woman jumped fearfully as we entered and then they nervously flinched when Tank and I moved in to remove the blindfolds.

"Did you find my girl" Lula ask, as soon Tank removed her gag.

"No not yet, are you two ladies alright ? ", Tank ask.

"We will be fine , you two need to get back out there and find Stephanie , before she ends up in Russia", Connie said.

"How did the two of you get here ?" , I ask.

"Connie's date stun gunned me and her, then threw us in his trunk and drove us here. He said something about Steph needing playmates , and us living the good life in Russia ," Lula huffed.

"How was I supposed to know he was crazy?", Connie whined.

"Aint nobody blaming you girl, I was just saying what happened."

"I am going to call Lester and Bobby to come pick you up, then take the two of you home", I told Connie and Lula.

Quickly I dialed Lester, he picked up on the first ring.

"Santos I need you and Bobby to swing up to Newark, come get Lula and Connie then take them back to Trenton".

"No can do man, I am in the middle of something", He told me.

"I don't know what you are up to and I don't want to know". "You work for me Santos , you do what I tell you when you are on company time ", I demanded.

"Naw man just listen, Ranger you are going to want to... "

I did not have time to deal with the Santos team or their maverick behavior. After I hung up , I called Binkie and Zip, I knew they were in the area and it only took them about ten minutes to pick up the woman.

Tank was sitting in the car waiting for me to get a report from Binkie , when I angled into the car he looked at me and announced , "They found her".

"How do you know? Who found her , Report ! " I barked.

"Lester, Bobby, and Hector found Stephanie , they could not get a hold of you man, so Hector just sent me a text with the address to where she is , he said we need to get there quick".

"What else"?

"Dmitriy must have taken her, she is at his house. Apparently, she is hiding in a closet or some small space they cannot get into, she said will not come out until you get there."

I entered the address into the GPS , we were almost an hour away, I put the turbo in to fifth and floored it. Tank looked over at me and raised an eyebrow.

Ten minuets later Tanks Phone chimed with another text message." I'm going to call Hector and he is going to put his phone on speaker but rout the in coming sound on his end though his ear piece. We will be able to hear what's going on over there , but Hector will be the only one who can hear us though his ear piece. This way we can be kept in the loop of what is going on. Hector said he could try to get her on the phone to speak to you, but things are complicated" Tank explained.

"No don't , I need to focus on getting there. Bedsides , if you try to force her to do something she is not comfortable with, she will just go into rhino mode. I will talk to her when we get there".

A few minutes later Tanks phoned Hector , he picked up on the first ring , and we could hear the commotion going on at Dmitriy's place. I could tell my Babe was already in rhino mode as they attempted to talk her out of her hiding place.

Bobby's voice was full of concern as he spoke to Stephanie.

 _"Bomber you need to get out here , from what I could see you look pretty banged up"._

When I heard those words my foot hit the gas even harder , I had to get to her , to make sure she was alright.

"Ranger you just hit 95 miles an hour, slow down" Tank warned .

"You want to drive Tank ? ", I said, as I took both of my hands off the wheel.

"Ranger, are you crazy , if you kill us you are not going to get to Stephanie , you are driving like a maniac !", Tank bellowed.

 _"Got any idea what it feels like to be so afraid of going to the ladies room alone , that you actually contemplate peeing on yourself ? Guess I made the wrong choice there" Babe said._

Those words hit me like a ton of bricks when she said them, and made me more determined to get to Stephanie.

"Ram is going to be shipped off to a frigid third world country" I growled.

 _"Hey Lester do you understand what it is like to have strange dick between your thighs and fight to keep out of you , bet you don't", she laughed._

"Did she just say what I think she said , please tell me I did not hear that right Tank".

He gave me a grim nod , then watched the speedometer hit 110 as my foot leaned on the gas pedal.

"Carlos , man that was a cop you just sped past , if you get stopped , he is going to arrest you, and where would that leave Bomber?" Tank shouted.

"That black and white cop car can't keep up with a turbo".

"Look man why don't pull over and call her, it's better than what you are doing now , maybe you can talk her out of there", Tank reasoned.

"Its pointless , she is hurt and scared , she wants me not a phone call. You know as well as I do , Stephanie won't come out until she knows I am there."

I could hear Babe laughing , her voice sounded close to hysterical , Bobby was warning her to stay call but it did not seem to be working.

 _"He loves me in his own way , have you ever heard a bigger load of crap in your life. What does that even mean!" His type of love comes with a condom not a ring. He can keep the ring , I would settle for a commitment or at lest a title, hell I will even accept a Face Book status. He told me he is the dessert in my life , how stupid a thing is that to say , because anyone who knows Stephanie Plum, knows I could live on dessert. Everything that man says is so confusing, but you know what was really confusing, when he told me to get back with Morelli. If Ranger does not want me, there was no reason to send me back there to that train wreck of a relationship with that man", she ranted._

It felt like someone had kicked me in the gut when I heard those words from Babe , they were dripping with hurt as she said them.

"Did you tell her that man , you _actually_ said those words to her" Tank ask, as he glared at me.

"More or less", I admitted.

"Tank, you said Hector had his ear piece synced with his phone can so he hear us right "?

"Yeah, but he is going to keep quiet , Hector does not want Stephanie to know we are listening , it might make things worse."

"She has to calm down , if she keeps this up, she is going pass out". "Stephanie has to be exhausted and who knows when the last time was that she had anything to eat or drink". "Hector I need you to do _something_ to get her to calm down".

" I'm on my way Babe, I'm on my way."


	19. Still Holding On

_I want give a huge thanks to the guest who read this entire story in on sitting and took the time to review each and every chapter ! I love your thoughtful and sincere comments, who ever you are, you rock I would love to know who you are. As always I appreciate all feed back that is sent my way and thanks to everyone who reviewed the previous chapter._

* * *

"What makes you so sure Ranger is on his way ?", Lester scoffed.

"Shut up Santos , Hector has been on his game today, if he says Ranger is on his way , he will be here", Bobby said.

"Hey man don't tell me to shut up" Lester growled , as he pushed Bobby.

Tempers quickly flared between the two men, then escalated into a heated shouting match.

"SHUT UP ,SHUT UP, SHUT UP ! ", I screamed at the top of my voice.

"Both of you need to stop , my head is killing me, the last thing I need is the two of you making it worse with all that yelling", I hissed.

"That is your choice Steph , if you come out here I can help you with the headache", Bobby told me.

"Bite me , Bobby" ! You think this fun , oh yeah I have been having a ball tonight , nothing but giggles and guns for me man" , I laughed .

"Enough Stephanie, the stubbornness and the sarcasm is getting old ! " , Lester barked.

Hector strolled over to Lester , " _YOU_. _DON'T_. , talk to her like that." , he told the larger man as they stood toe to toe.

"Again, I started to laugh," You know who else said I'm stubborn , my mother, she is furious with me for not marring Morelli. My invitation to Friday night dinner has been revoked, and she told me that I should stay away from my family until I give up my job. Apparently, I am a danger to everyone around me as long as I am a BEA. Well guess what mom this one had nothing to do with my job!", I ranted.

The guys stood there quietly, not knowing what to say.

"Hey, can any of you tell me why the lunatics love me ? " I ask .

No one answered.

"Why me ? ", I joked,but no one laughed. "The least you all could do is keep me company while your boss ignores me," I complained. " The three of you have no sense of humor".

"Sorry Steph , we're just worried about you ", Lester explained.

"Relax, I'm fine no big deal", I said ,with noticeable irritation in my voice.

NO , you are not Stephanie , you have yourself all worked up. Then there is the headache you are complaining about , and that cough sounds bad." Bobby told me.

"Bomber you need to chill , sit down and wait for Ranger NOW ! , you heard what Bobby said" Lester added.

"So now it's gang up on Stephanie time huh " , I yelled becoming even more agitated.

Hector walked toward the pantry, gauged the space and with a some effort slide into the small area in front of me. I gasp and flinched at the sudden invasion, as I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Hector you can't make me come out of here, I'm not leaving this pantry until Ranger gets here"! The words came out of my mouth all at once at frantic pace in a hysterical tone.

"No, I can't and I'm not here to try. Ranger is on his way , just let me sit with you until he gets here", Hector told me gently.

His tone was soft and compassionate , instantly I was out of rhino mode.

"How do you know he is coming Hector?" I ask trying to hide the desperation in my voice.

"The same way I knew following my data would find you " , he answered.

"Your data ?" "You were looking for me , why ?" " I mean you're tech and don't normally get hands on like that."

" I don't have many friends and my family wants nothing to do with me. You treat me like a person , you don't see the gang tattoos when you look at me. Steph you just see , Hector. Besides if I let something happen to you , who would I eat peanut butter and olive sandwiches with, everyone else thinks they are weird. Hey I added jalapeño kettle cooked chips on top of honey peanut butter and under the olives, gives the sandwich a whole new kick. You get this spicy salty thing with a hint of sweet , I'll make you one for a change , you always share your lunch with me. I wonder if anyone knows we eat contraband in the stairwell?

"Probably not, you always scramble the cameras , every since the first time you caught me eating butter scotch krimpets and demanded one in exchange for your silence."

Hector chuckled , "Hey I always use to share those with my sister. I would walk her home from school , we always stopped at the corner store to buy a pack. Then we would sit on the front stoop and share them".

"Sounds like the two of you had some good times ,where is your sister now , does she still like Tasty Kakes?", I coughed.

" She is in college now , she graduates next semester. If my parents had their way , she would bee married by now , popping out babies standing at a stove all day with a niño on her hip. She's smart, really smart , they did not want her to go to college, refused to help her pay to apply or fill out any or financial aid forms. If it wasn't for all those fee waivers and her scholarship , she would still be stuck in Jersey.

"Out of state tuition is expensive that must be some scholarship."

"Yeah it covers everything , tuition, books , on or off campus housing ,plus a generous living stipend. It's worth about half my salary , Hector said smiling proudly

"Does she know, that you are her scholarship" ?

"She has no idea , I had to get her out of Jersey people know she is mi Corazon."

I left the gang because of her, a rival set went after her when they came looking for me. They…. ,hurt her, … it was bad. She's recovered , has some scares both physical and emotional but she is alright now. My parents were furious with me and would not listen to a thing I had say, even when I told them to send her away get her out town. They still live in a gang neighborhood.

When I wanted out, members of my own gang threatened to harm her, told me blood in blood out. I lost it, wilded out on them. When I left , there was blood everywhere , none of it was mine. Don't get me wrong , I am not bragging , those bangers left me no choice ,I love her too much to see her get hurt again behind something I was involved in. I learned that day gangs don't love no body.

I leaned back against the wall of the closet then closed my eyes, fighting fatigue and laboring to breath.

"Hey , chica don't tell me I'm boring you already", Hector joked.

My body felt like it was on fire ,as I suddenly felt overheated and sweat poured over me.

"I 'm still listening" I said softly.

"You are shivering, are you cold, do you want my jacket ?", Hector offered.

I shook my head no as I wrapped my good arm around my abdomen in an effort to relieve some the pain I was feeling. Pain seemed to be shooting from everywhere , my body was in distress, a whimper of physical discomfort escaped from me.

"You are going to be alright Stephanie", Hector assured me.

"I can give you something for the pain Steph if you come out of here", Bobby repeated.

Hector looked at me, his eyes questioning if I would consider Bobby's offer.

Nervously I shook my head no back and forth causing dizziness to set in, forcing me to grip one of the storage racks to stabilize myself.

"She told you before, she is not coming out until Ranger gets here", Hector said.

There was a loud crash followed by the sound of heavy boots running into the kitchen.

"Babe?!"

"I'm here now Babe"!

Instantly without a thought I was struggling to make it to my feet , when I did I staggered out of the pantry with some assistance from Hector. Relief ,washed over Rangers face when he saw me , then his expression turned grim and sadness clouded his eyes. I could see his lips moving,but I could not make out what he was saying. Without warning my legs failed me and I felt myself crashing toward the floor.


	20. Thirty Seven Minutes , Eighteen Seconds

The Turbo skidded sideways into to the drive way of the property, I didn't even make sure the car was in park before jumping out and throwing open the front door of the home with a loud crash. Running at a full on sprint to the kitchen , I searched for Stephanie. When she staggered out of the pantry with Hectors assistance I was relieved. The sight of my Babe was enough for me to drop my blank mask. Stephanie's physical condition tugged painfully at my heart. She was wearing nothing but an oversized mens dress shirt with the sleeves were rolled up reveling a collection of bruises , cigar burns and her severely injured bloody wrist. Her normally wild curly hair was slick with sweat and blood. A shiner had formed over her right eye , there were several contusions and small laceration on her face , red brown streaks ran down Stephanie's bare bruised legs. Pain reflected on her face with every step she took. I watched Babe standing in front of me shivering, her lips blue and face pale, she gave me slight smile then her legs went limp. She would have went down hard to the floor if I had not wrapped my arm around her waist and gently eased her down. Quickly I took off my jacket to cover Stephanie , keep her warm and help prevent her from going into shock.

"Ranger don't" ! , Bobby shouted.

"She's cold , if we don't keep her warm she could go into shock ! ", I barked.

"No , I think she's hypoxic", he said as took his stethoscope from the medical bag.

Bobby listened to Stephanie's lungs and frowned, then he touched her forehead.

"She is burning up Ranger!" ,Bobby said , as he palpated her abdomen and Babe yelped in pain.

I shot an angry glare at Bobby when Stephanie let out a sharp wail as he tired to adjust her left arm.

Gently I stroked Babe's forehead and whispered to her in an effort to sooth and comfort her.

"This is not good Ranger, she needs to get to a trauma center right away , grab and go man" !

I picked her up and carried Babe to the SUV Lester drove. Hector held open the rear passengers door as I placed Stephanie on the back seat as gently I could. When I moved toward the driver seat Tank firmly held the door shut.

"Uh un Ranger no way you are driving" ! "Get in the back with her."

"I'll drive , I know where a hospital is, I was up here before for a medical workshop" Bobby informed us.

Lester rode shot gun ,Tank and Hector stayed behind to deal with Yuri and Dmitriy.

~XO~XO~XO ~XO

Bobby drove up to Emergency room entrance, illegally parked in front, then bolted inside and returned with a wheel chair. An angry charge nurse jogged after him.

"Hurry Ranger get her in the chair", Bobby told me.

"Excuse me sir, excuse me! " , the nurse yelled at Bobby.

"What !" , he snapped at her.

The small nurse who stood just over five feet tall did not back down , she was hands on hips as she tossed her dark wavy ponytail over her shoulder.

"I'm the triage nurse on duty , you cannot just hijack a wheelchair and run out the door and you are parked in an ambulance bay move NOW !"

"Bobby strolled up to the nurse and leaned toward her. This is an emergency we don't have time wait around , since you're the triage nurse you know what an emergency is right !"

"Bobby" ? The nurse said as she squinted into the light to look at him.

He looked at her for a minute ,then recognition hit him.

"Meena"?

"Yeah" she said , her tone soft and posture relaxed as she looked past Bobby to Stephanie. "That looks serious , hurry and get to the ER so I can better access her condition".

"I already have , she has sustained blunt trauma to head, chest, back, and abdomen. Her abdomen is rigid and distended, hypoxia , fever ,Dyspnea , and I'm hearing rales in the lungs. There are also multiple contusions and laceration along with a shoulder injury ", Bobby explained.

The nurse picked up the phone and paged someone , then entered Stephanie's information that Bobby had given her into the computer.

"If you had just come by desk first, I could have had someone out there with a gurney and a doctor waiting. I'll make sure she does not have to wait, I paged someone to take her right back, they are going to make sure she is on her way to get an MRI a CAT scan and X-rays" Meena said to Bobby as she fasted a hospital bracelet to Stephanie's wrist .

Not long after Meena sent the page two orderly's came out with a gurney and wheeled Babe off.

Me, Lester, and Bobby sat silently in the waiting room for what seemed like hours. Meena came in and sat next to Bobby. Gently she placed her hand on his back and he looked up at her startled.

"Hey how are you ? " she said in an almost whisper. Your friend has been taken into emergency surgery, her spleen is badly damaged and bleeding and needs to be removed. She has also suffered a Pulmonary laceration due to several healing fractured ribs being re- injured, you know this complicate the situation. Someone will be down to give you the information I just told you, and to get somebody to sign consent forms, I don't see any family members here, is there anyone that you can call?" she ask.

"I'm authorized to sign for her in a medical emergency", I said " get me the paper and I'll sign them " .

She looked up at me in shock because she had no idea that I could hear the conversation between her and Bobby or that I was listening.

Meena moved three seats down to where I sitting.

"Look, that was a private conversation, I'm not supposed to be giving out information with out the permission of the physician. I know Bobby so I am doing him a favor, but if anyone finds out I won't be able to continue to share anymore of these confidential sneak peeks. _Understand_."

Meena stood up glaring at me, tapping her foot, waiting for me to answer. When I did not , she tossed her Ponytail over her shoulder and walked over to Bobby.

"Alright cool, take care Bobby , my shift is over anyway", she said as she stormed away.

Bobby leaped out of his seat grabbing Meena by her wrist before she could leave.

"Tell her you got it Ranger! Tell her."

"Look , don't leave, you don't have to talk to him , you can talk to me outside or you can call or text me." Bobby pleaded.

"Like I said , my shift is over. Between here and the clinic, I have been working for nine days straight. So I will tell you what, let me go home take a shower, change and get in a nap. I have a friend who will contact me with any information".

Bobby pulled Meena into his arms and kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you, you are too kind. Oh and please tell me why a physicians assistance is moonlighting as triage nurse?" , Bobby ask.

"New York is an expensive place to live and the clinic does not pay well, plus you know I want to go back and finish medical school ."

"You look tired and it's late, let me walk you out to your car", he said to Meena.

Bobby glowered angrily at me and then followed Meena out the door.

~XO~XO~XO ~XO

It had been hours since they had taken Babe in for surgery, Bobby had been waiting for updates from Meena. At the moment Brown was MIA , I had called him , but his phone went straight to voice mail. After sending Bobby a several text messages with no reply , I went looking for him. I found Brown is sitting in the back of cargo section of the Black Explorer with the rear door open. He had one leg resting on the bumper the other extended in front of him with his arms folded across his chest. It was clear to see this man was not casually lounging , rigid tension was easily visible though out his body.

"What do you want man ? ", Bobby barked.

"You are not answering your phone" I growled.

" I am keeping the line free for any incoming calls".

"Have you heard anything" ?

"Yeah".

"Report".

"Go to hell man , you 're so full of yourself. Like you care , line item in your budget , entertainment", Bobby said with disgust dripping from is voice.

"Watch yourself Brown", I warned.

Bobby pushed off the car then strolled over to me with defiance in his stance and his face filled with emotion.

"Thirty seven minutes and eighteen seconds" he hissed.

"What" ?

" Hector said it took you thirty seven minutes and eighteen second , to get to there, from the time he contacted you. Thirty seven minutes and eighteen seconds of delayed medical treatment. Thirty seven minutes and eighteen seconds of internal bleeding , time for her fever to spike , minutes that she struggled to breath. Thirty seven minutes and eighteen seconds she spent in pain longer than she had to be" , Bobby complained.

"I was more than an hour away", I hissed.

"You should not have been, Hector had four possible location , information we found at one of those places led us to where we found her. We wasted time because it was just us, if you had assigned someone else to help search those other locations or gone yourself, we would have gotten to her sooner"!

Without warning Bobby sucker punched me. It did not take long before the two of us were going blow for blow in the middle of the parking lot. Ordinarily Brown was no match for me , but tonight he was quite the contender and was giving me a run for my money.

" Stop this , stop this right now, what's wrong with the two of you", Tank's baritone voice bellowed as got in between me and Bobby.

Bobby struggled against Tank wanting to continue his assault on me.

"You aint special man"! " Ranger , Carlos Manoso , you are just a man , capable of screwing up just like the rest of us. You should have trusted what Hector was telling you! If you had been there on the scene right away with us ... man you should have been first on the scene." Bobby screamed at me, his voice overflowing with anger.

"Get a hold of yourself Brown ", Tank ordered , holding Bobby by his shoulders.

" Easy for you to say Tank, you didn't see her huddled up in that dark pantry, fear etched all over her face bloody and beaten. Stephanie looked so small , so vulnerable. She went down almost as soon as the two you got there , you did not see her like that Tank" Bobby exclaimed with raw emotions cracking though his voice.

Bobby stormed back over to the SUV with his shoulders rounded , trying to conceal his sniffling, swiping at his face with the back of his hand before climbing in the drivers side, hiding behind the tinted windows, slamming and locking the door.


	21. Oh Ranger

The rhythmic sounds of a woman's heels walking across the floor piqued my attention. She was wearing a pair of form-fitting jeans that hugged every curve of her petite body, along with a sweater that was cropped a couple of inches above her flat well-toned abs, and a pair of leather high heeled boots. She had skin two shades darker than mine. Her thick, long ,black, wavy locks framed her pretty face, flowed over her shoulders and down her back. The dark eyed beauty scanned the room searching for someone as she balanced a drinker holder containing four cups in one hand and two bags of food in the other. Gracefully she spun on her heels, looked at me, frowned ,then rolled her eyes and exhaled a groan. This was not the usual effect I had on women. The young woman turned around on her heels again and walked over to the man sitting across from me.

"Lester, right ?", She said.

"That is me and who would you be lovely lady"? "Have we met"?

"I was just here, but Bobby did not get a chance to introduce us formally I'm Meena Patel".

Lester's eyes slowly roamed her body, scanning every inch of Meena, as a sly smile played at the corners of his lips.

"You… ah, look…,taller now", he said as he licked his lips.

"Taller, yeah right that is what you were thinking huh", she laughed as she dropped one of the bags hard into Santos lap before handing him the drink holder.

"Where is Bobby , do you know where I can find him"?

"Last I Checked he was in the truck, you know where it's parked "?

"Yelp," she said as she took two cups from Lester and walked toward the door.

As Meena walked away she paused and yelled out, " Enjoy the coffee, muffins and sandwiches and stop staring at my ass Lester"!

Once she was out the door, Lester took a sandwich from the bag along with a muffin. He set his coffee on the table next to him and added cream and sugar from the bag. Then he got up and gave the bag and another cup to me.

"I did not even recognize her, how the hell does she fit all those curves into that five foot nothing size two frame of hers, she is hot"!

"Eat your food, drink your coffee Santos"!

Twenty minutes later Bobby walked in and set next to Lester in his had he had a phone housed in a purple rhinestone case.

"Nice phone does it go with your purse? ", Lester teased.

"It's Meena's,she fell asleep in the truck, and by the way nice job letting her walk out there to the back of a dark parking lot alone". Bobby said angrily.

"She found her way in here alright", I told Bobby.

"Ignore him, Ranger is just mad because the tiny woman is not intimidated by the big bad army mercenary. That and the fact she is giving _you_ and not _him_ inside information. You know Ranger does not play well with others, especially when the toys don't belong to him. Bob, you're right we should have walked her out to the truck not sent her out there by herself , my bad man". Lester said quickly.

"So did you come in here for a reason or just to whine?" I ask.

"Man if Stephanie did not need you", Bobby huffed as he shook his head at me.

"What is it, Bobby?", Lester said. "You have some info about beautiful"?

"Yes, she is out of surgery, they ran into a few complications, but she is going to recover. She has a concussion, both legs required several stitches in the places she had been slashed with a knife. Her dislocated shoulder has been set and placed in a sling and it looks like she has a torn rotators cuff as well. They are going to monitor her kidney's closely for the next few days due to the contusions. Looks like she is going to be here for a while, and we know she is not going to happy about it", Bobby reported.

"When can see her?", Lester ask.

"They are moving her from recovery to a room, right now only the next of kin can see her". "So technically that's him", Bobby said pointing at me.

~ox~ox~ox~ox

I was standing next the window as the sun set , looking at my Babe in her hospital bed, the oxygen tubes in her nose along with the monitor and IV she was hooked up to made her look so helpless. It had been a rough few days for both of us, her for obvious reasons, and me because I could not stand seeing her that way. Over that past three days, Stephanie had refused to eat _anything._ I had the offered to get her whatever she wanted, but still would not eat. He doctor explained that she was already more that fifteen to twenty pounds underweight, that proper nutrition was vital to her recovery, but the words had no effect on Stephanie. In addition to not eating, she had almost stopped speaking altogether, I could count the number of words she had said over the past few days. I watched Babe drift in and out of restless bouts of sleep filled with nightmares, when she woke up she looked for me, so I had spent most of my time sitting in a chair next to her bed. Stephanie had refused all visitor ,she did not want to see any of the Range men, Lula, Connie or even Mary Lou. A sign had been posted on the door and a notation made on her chart, needless to say, she was also not up to receiving any phone calls. I heard doctors and nurses whispering about possible moving Stephanie to the Psychiatric ward if she remained in this state much longer. I was not sure how to handle that statement. Babe had been through so much, under the circumstances was her behavior really that abnormal? Somehow I thought their discussion on the matter was a bit premature. They didn't know my Babe she is strong she could get through this, all she needed was time and help from the people who love and care for her.

"Ranger ".

"Yeah Babe I'm right here ", I said as I walked over to the other side of the bed.

"What time is it ?", she ask.

"A little after five are you hungry would you like something to eat", I ask hoping she had regained her appetite.

Quietly she shook her head no.

I slouched down in the seat next to the bed as I looked at Stephanie,I could tell there was something on her mind and that she was finally ready to say more that a couple of words to me.


	22. Bobby's Girl

I looked over at Ranger sitting in his rumpled clothes. He had dark circles under his eyes. His five- o- clock shadow on his face had turned into a full beard. The poor man had been sitting by my bedside for the past three days, the only time he left was to use the restroom. If the nurses had not taken pity on Ranger and brought him food, I don't think he would have eaten. It felt selfish to have him camped out here with me.

"Ranger."

"Yeah, Babe."

"Go home, sleep in a bed for a while, eat something other than hospital food, take a shower, and shave."

I 'm alright, I am not ready to be away from you yet. When you went missing like that and we could not find you I… It's okay Babe I don't mind staying with you.

"I mind, this is not good for you, and you are making me feel guilty."

"You win Babe, I'll go home for a while, do you want me to send one of the guys so you won't be alone?"

"No!" the words came out of my mouth more aggressively than I intended. I just was not ready to see anyone yet, not even Lula or Connie.

Ranger raised an eyebrow and kissed me on my forehead then he left.

As soon as he was gone, restlessness crept in and the warm safe feeling that Ranger had brought me walked out the door with him. The comfort of having Ranger sitting next to me over past few days was gone. My heart started to race and my hands shook. I turned on the television hoping the noise would make the room feel less empty. For the better part of an hour, I flipped through the channels trying to hold off a panic attack and then someone walked in. I guessed she was part of the medical staff because she was wearing scrubs and a lab coat. Even though I had never seen her before and her scrubs did not match the rest of the staff, I was glad she was here.

"You are so pale, are feeling Okay?" ,she said, walking over to check my vitals then examine my IV and monitor.

" I am just nervous, I'm not used to being here all alone and hospitals freak me out," I told the young woman.

When she finished, the woman went over to my chart placed it on the bedside table, then pulled out her smartphone and took pictures.

"Are you allowed to do that, what are you doing? "

"No, I 'm not supposed to be emailing your private medical records to Bobby," she said in a nonchalant manner as she put the chart back.

"You know Bobby"?

"Yelp, he is worried about you ".

I watched her as she picked up a tote bag from the floor next to the door, then gathered a stack of towels and two plastic basins from a chair.

The young woman took a bottle of shampoo, some conditioner, and gel from the bag. Then she went to the bathroom and returned with one of the basins filled with water and placed it on the tray in front of me.

"You have not had your hair washed in a few days, I know that can't feel great", she said as she leaned me forward, removed the pillow, placed towels on the bed, and then eased me back down. Expertly she placed the empty basin under my head, used a small water pitcher to slowly pour warm water over my head, then wash and condition my hair. She finished by towel drying my wet locks. Next she emptied the water, collected all wet towels and carried them out to the laundry hamper in the hallway. Then the tiny woman raised the bed to the upright position and with a brush and gel in hand she carefully and gently slipped behind me.

"Don't worry I know your ribs are broken I'm not going to hurt you," She assured me.

Outside of a salon and other than my mother, I had never had anyone do my hair before, especially someone I did not even know. She had not even told me her name. It would have been weird if I was not so grateful to have some company. That and it did feel really great to have clean hair.

"My younger sister has hair just like this," she told me as she brushed my hair, applied gel, then styled it into a French braid.

"Feel better?" she said as she got off the bed.

I nodded yes.

"Look at me, I can be such a klutz, I got water all over myself," Then she took off her lab coat and scrubs. I watched in shock as she walked over to her tote bag wearing only her bra and panties. She took out a pair of yoga pants and a long sleeve Tee shirt.

"So you work here?," I ask as she dressed in dry clothes.

"Sometimes, but not today".

She must have caught the puzzled expression on my face because she burst into laughter.

"I'm sorry this must seem strange to you, I'm Meena Patel". I was here when you came in a few nights ago."

"Bobby is a friend of mine and like I said before, he is worried about you".

"So Bobby sent you here and ask you to all this?"

"Yes and no. He asked me to check on you for him, but I figured you would appreciate having clean hair. It's my day off and I have slept for most of the it, I did not have anything else to do".

"Thank you," I told her, shocked by her generosity.

Meena climbed into bed and snuggled in next to me in the like we were BFFs from high school and remoted the television channel. Her phone buzzed and she read a text message. Meena's eyes lit up and she smiled.

" Bobby "?

" Yeah how did you guess"?

I didn't answer her because I still was not in the mood to say much, but I knew who it was from the expression on her face.

"I heard you were not feeling up to conversation these days, that's alright I can talk enough for the both of us, so feel free to tell me to shut my big mouth."

Her voice was comforting and I liked hearing Meena talk to me, so I decided to contribute a bit to the conversation.

"How do you know Bobby ?," I ask.

"I met him a while back at a medical workshop, then I started seeing him around at different certification refreshers. We exchanged numbers and got to know each other a bit. When I mentioned that I worked at a nonprofit pediatric clinic and we were giving free physicals and vaccinations to children in preparation for the upcoming school year, he volunteered to drive up from Trenton and help. Now at least once a month he comes in on the weekend to help out because we are always swamped. Most of the parents who bring their children there can't afford to skip a day of work for a doctors appointment."

"So you two are dating"?

"Yes, I guess you can say that, but we are taking things slow. He has taken me out on a few dates, every time Bobby's in town he brings me little gifts like food or flowers. When he volunteers at the clinic I let him sleep on my couch and I trust him with a key to my apartment," Meena gushed.

"Bobby's a good guy, I'm glad he has someone like you."

"I'm glad to have someone like Bobby. Since my family moved back to India I have been so lonely. I miss my parents and little sisters. My father sold his company and retired to his hometown when my youngest sister became a problem child. She was running with a bad crowd, getting into all kinds of trouble. My father was worried she would wind up getting pregnant or shaking her money maker in a rap music video."

"So he just up and moved your family out of the country"?

"Yes, but I did not want to go, I was born here and so were my sisters. They did not want to leave either, but when your are a teenager you don't have much choice. I'm less lonely since I met Bobby, I get a call or text from him at least once a day," Meena told me as she blushed.

I listened to Meena chatter on and on until I fell asleep.

At some point during the night, one of the nurses must have turned off the television and the light, then tucked us in, because the two of us were snug as a bug in a rug. I was enjoying some of the most restful sleep I had in a while. Meena and I were awakened from our deep slumber, not from the daylight that was now pouring through the window but by an angry voice.

Meena set up tilted her head toward the sound and looked at Ranger incredulously.

"You are so damn rude! If you don't have any consideration for me, at least, show some for her. I'm sure you have noticed she was sleeping too," Meena said as she hopped off the bed and into her running shoes. She gathered up her belongings and shoved them into the tote bag.

"What are you doing in here !," Ranger bellowed, once more.

Meena turned and gave me a gentle hug.

"It's was cool hanging out with you Stephanie, we have to do it again. I have to run now. Your man's manners need work, and I am not in the mood for it," she said as she ignored Ranger's question, then attempted to walk out the door.

Ranger firmly planted himself in the doorway, blocking her exit.

"Excuse me sir you are in my way."

"I ask you a question, what are you doing in here, in this room, in her bed! You better tell me now or we are going to have a problem!," Ranger growled angrily.

" _We_ already have a problem, and don't you talk to me like that!"

" The sign on the door clearly reads no visitors, so does her chart. I'm the only one she gave permission to visit her. So again, I'm asking, what are you doing in here. I can tell by the way you are dressed, you're obviously not on duty !" Ranger barked aggressively.

"You need to move out of that doorway and let me leave NOW! "

" You want me out of this doorway, answer my question, or make me move you little midget," Ranger hissed as he towered over her tiny frame in a threatening manner.

Meena's eyes narrowed angrily at Ranger as she took a step towards him.

" The big bad mercenary is name calling and bullying women, I'm not impressed or scared of you Ranger."

"Be glad you're a woman, if you were a man, I would have swung first and ask questions later."

"I don't understand how Bobby handles being around a man that behaves this way. Is he aware that you are this big a Jerk ?"

"So what now, you are going to tell Bobby on me?" Ranger said almost laughing.

" That is not even my style sweetheart. I don't need him or anyone else to fight my battles for me," Meena said with hands on hips, standing on her tiptoes in an attempt to get in Ranger's face.

"Please, what are you going to do, bite my ankles".

"You'll find out momentarily if you keep standing in that doorway."

When Ranger continued to block her exit from the room, Meena faked a kick to Ranger's knee. As he moved to dodger her foot, she launched a sneak attack on his cojones, delivering two quick hard jabs with her fist. While Ranger doubled over in pain, Meena walked out the door.


	23. Stay?

When Ranger recovered he walked over to my bed.

"She has got the right name, that is a mean little woman," he grumbled.

"Why did you do that, she was nice to me. Meena kept me company while you were gone."

Ranger ran his hand across the braid in my hair, "Nice."

"Meena did it," I said, as I angrily brushed his hand away.

Ranger glanced up at me and I saw a look flash across his face that I could not identify.

"Well I'm here now Babe, you don't need her," he told me as he kissed the top of my head.

I jerked my head back and looked up at him in an attempt to figure out what was going through this man's mind.

"Come on Babe don't be like that, I missed you," Ranger told me.

I looked at him and shook my head.

"What is wrong with you Ranger?" You don't act that way, you're a good guy, you don't treat people like that. You don't bully women, you protect them?"

"The only woman I am interested in protecting right now is you, Babe." "I'm your only visitor and that woman had no business in this room!"

My shock must have register with him because Ranger softened his tone and his expression.

"I'm sorry, I just want …" "You're _my_ Babe and if you need anything, _I_ want to be the one that is here for you."

" Don't tell me you are sorry, tell _Meena_."

"I 'm done talking about that pint sized puncher."

I let out an exasperated groan and closed my eyes.

After an hour, the room was still thick with tension between Ranger and me.

"Babe if you don't want me here, let me know and I will come back later."

His words stung. Was Ranger mad at me because of Meena, did he really want to leave me?

"That's up to you. It's not like I'm going to kick you out of my room."

"I will go, Babe, I'll see you later," he said, before kissing me on the cheek and exiting the hospital room.

I didn't know how to handle Ranger leaving. I felt abandoned and hurt. What could I do if the man did not wish to stay? I had hoped he would have said he wanted to be here with me, that he had no desire to leave.

~XO~XO~XO~

The sound of footsteps woke me from my late afternoon nap. When I opened my eyes there were to two strange men were standing in my room.

"Stephanie Plum?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Agent Owen Carter and this Agent Dillon Jefferies." "The two of us are here from the FBI." "We need to speak to you about the arrest of the Kuzma Brothers."

I had no desire to speak to these men or talk about Yuri and Dmitry.

"No."

"No, what do you mean no?" "Do you realize that failing to cooperate with a federal investigation is a crime Ms. Plum?"

"What!"

"Calm down Ms. Plum, we are here to help you." "The Kuzma brothers are telling conflicting stories. "We need to make these charges stick." "If not, we are going to have to release them if we can't make a case."

"NO, NO, NO!" I hit the call button hoping the nurse would come and make these men leave me alone.

"Maybe you don't want to help us because of your involvement with Range man." "We have it on good authority from a source at the Trenton PD, that the company is involved in criminal activity."

"Who let you in here?"

" _We_ are asking the questions here Ms. Plum."

Finally, the charge nurse answered the call bell that I had been pushing for a least ten minutes.

"Who are you gentlemen and what are you doing here past visiting hours?"

The Feds flashed their badges and introduced themselves.

"Badge or no badge, you have to leave. Ms. Plum is not up to dealing with visitors as the sign next to the door clearly states."

"Ma 'am this is an ongoing federal investigation and…."

"This patient has undergone severe trauma and is suffering from a concussion Ms. Plum is in no condition to help you with any investigation."

Slowly the men walked out of my room.

"Sorry about that. I don't know how they got past us."

Hours after the FBI agents had left my heart was pounding and I was pacing the floor. The threat of Dmitriy or Yuri back out on the streets had me shaking with fear. There was no way to stay safe here. Anyone could just walk through the door. Being alone in the hospital made me feel like a sitting duck.

Pulling my I.V. unit with me, I walked out to the nurses station.

"I want to be discharged from this hospital immediately. I'm not safe here. You allowed those two men in my room , there is no telling who else you would let in."

"Please, Ms. Plum calm down. I understand you have been through a traumatic ordeal, and as a result, you are overreacting. "

"Don't tell me I'm overreacting," I said firmly.

"It is late, patients are not normally discharged at this hour, please be reasonable."

"I don't care, you can't keep me here. I have the right to refuse treatment!", I argued now becoming visibly aggravated.

"Look, dear, I apologize for those unauthorized visitors. They snuck in during a shift change. It won't happen again. Please get back in bed."

"No, not until someone gets my discharge papers started!", I shrieked.

This brought the attention of another nurse. She looked at me sympathetically, and a gave me a sappy smile. Then she whispered something in the other woman's ear.

"Yes, she may still be here, I'll check," she said as she picked up the phone and dialed.

The nurse turned her back to me and spoke in a hushed tone.

"I caught her before she left, she was just about walk out the door. She said she would see what she could do," one nurse explained to the other.

"Well", I said.

"Ms, Plum you are not ready to leave the hospital. You have had major surgery and your body is still recovering."

A few minutes later I felt a gentle hand rubbing my back and I almost jumped out of my skin.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you", Meena said softly.

My panic level calmed a bit when I saw her.

"Where is Ranger?", she asked.

"He left. I don't want to be here anymore. I don't feel safe", I whispered.

Meena took her phone from her bag and handed it to me, "Why don't you talk to him before you make any decisions."

I dialed Ranger when his phone went to voice mail, I left him a message.

"Come on, why don't you get back to bed and we can talk while we wait for him to call you back," Meena said.

I shook my head, "I don't want to talk I just want to leave", I said not bothering to hide the panic in my voice.

"Alright you go back to bed and I will talk," Meena told me as she coaxed me back to my hospital room, then finally back to bed.

"Wanna tell me why you don't feel safe and why you are insisting on being discharged?"

I explained to Meena what happened.

She thought for a bit and then asked, "Do you think that could happen? What if one of them comes looking for you?," Meena asked.

I shrugged nervously "I don't want to wait around and find out. Besides what if they discover where I am and send someone to keep me quiet? What is to stop them from walking right through the door?"

"You're right this may not be the best place for you now that the Feds have been sniffing around. It would be far too easy for one of them follow the trail they left", Meena agreed.

I watched her send a text, then she handed me back the phone and told me to dial Ranger again. I left another message and then Meena checked her phone for a reply to her text before sending another. We repeated this process for about hour.

Alright, you can't get Ranger on the phone and Bobby is not returning any of my text. You are going to have to sign out Against Medical Advice. The is no way they are just going to let you leave, it is going to take awhile. You have to stay calm. If there any inference of the slightest hint that you are not mentally fit to make this decision, they will keep you here and possibly send you to the Psychiatric unit. A physician is going to come and discuss your condition and the medical risk associated with your AMA discharge. Then they will allow you to leave after you have signed a legal waiver. The whole process could take a couple of hours," she explained.

Meena wrote down a phone number on a napkin then handed me her phone.

"Keep it so you can continue calling Ranger. If Bobby ever hits me back, let him know what is going on. You can give my phone to him when you see him. Bobby will get it back to me. If for some reason by the time you are discharged you don't hear from either one of the men. That is my home number on the napkin. Call me and I will meet you downstairs. As an employee of this hospital I can't be seen helping a patient leave AMA", Meena said.

Two hours later we were in the parking lot of Meena's apartment complex. She reached under my seat and handed me a Maglite.

"It's dark back here and that also makes a good weapon."

Next she took a gun from under her own seat as she got out of the car. Meena held the weapon in her right hand next to her thigh as she guided me across the parking lot and into her building.

"Welcome to my home," she announced. "The kitchen is over there, this is the living room right in front of us, you can find the bathroom down the hall across from the bedroom. Please make yourself at home."

I sat down on the couch and watched Meena walk into the kitchen and make a sandwich.

"Can I get you anything, are you hungry?"

"No, but I would love a shower, " I told her.

"No problem, follow me. I will get you set up," she chirped happily.

Meena turned on the shower, then she took a loofah along with a fluffy towel from a small linen cabinet. Next she helped me out of my sling and the hospital gown I was still wearing. Then she put shower gel on the loofah for me.

"Can you manage by yourself with one arm ?"

I nodded yes.

"Great, then I will give you some privacy."

After getting out of the shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and headed to the bedroom looking for Meena.

"Hey, Steph. I laid out something for you to wear."

I glanced at the black Tee shirt with the Range man logo along with a pair of men's black boxer shorts, then back to Meena.

"Sorry, those are Bobby's. Nothing of mine will fit you", Meena said.

Suddenly, for the first time in weeks, I burst out in a full on belly laugh.

Meena gave me a questioning look.

"The idea of me wearing nothing but a Range man Tee shirt and Bobby's underwear is just too funny," I laughed as Meena helped me get dressed then replaced my sling.

She could not help but to laugh herself.

"Wait until Ranger finds out you are in another man's underwear. "Bobby can call him and be like, Yo man _your_ woman in _my_ boxers". Meena joked.

We climbed into her queen sized bed with Meena's phone between us, waiting for someone to return a text or phone call. Sometime after midnight Meena's phone rang, she answered it on speaker.

"Hello."

"Meena I need another favor !" , Bobby said in a panicked voice.

"I have been texting you for hours and you don't reply. Now you call me wanting a favor Bobby !"

"Chill woman, I got you on speaker and Lester is sitting right next to me", Bobby said.

"That's your issue, not mine, what do want?"

"I heard on the news that the hospital where Stephanie is a patient, you know the one you work at, it is being evacuated. There is some sort of emergency and they have blocked off entire building and parking lot. No further details are being released. I was wondering if you could get me some intel or least check on Steph for me," Bobby explained.

"Yes I could, but I won't. I can't believe you could not even be bothered to return a text," she complained.

"Somebody's in trouble. I told you not to be hitting that ignore button man", Lester teased.

"Shut up Santos !", Bobby growled.

"Come on Meena, she could be hurt or scared or…"

"Or she could be sitting right next to me in my bed", Meena laughed.

"Excuses me, is that supposed to be a joke or something?"Bobby said ,his tone now becoming irate.

"Nope I 'm serious," Meena laughed.

She nudged me with her elbow prompting me to speak.

"Hey Les, hi Bobby", I said quietly.

Then there was nothing but silence one the other end of the phone.

"Bobby are you still there ?"

"Munchkin what have you done? How can someone so tiny cause so much trouble? Ranger his going to explode !"

"She wanted to leave, so they called me to talk her into staying. When she signed out AMA, we could not get a hold of you or your boss. So I brought her home with me. This must have been before whatever is going on at the hospital now happened," Meena explained.

"Let me get this straight. You were supposed to convince her to stay, but instead, you helped her get discharged AMA. You realize that makes no sense Meena !"

I could hear Lester in the background laughing, "Bobby we just found out you have a woman. Now you are about to be single again, cause Ranger is going to kill her, then he is going to kill you. Wait until I tell everybody your woman kidnapped Stephanie," he laughed.

"ENOUGH SANTOS!", Bobby roared.

Again things went silent on the other end of the line.

"Bobby you still there?" Meena ask.

"Yes, Meena."

"Do you know where Ranger is ?"

"No, I'll call Tank and find out."

"Give him my address and tell him not to pick her up too early tomorrow. We are going to sleep in," Meena instructed.

"Anything else you want to tell me," Bobby asked?

"Yes, have him bring her some clothes because she is wearing your boxers and shirt."

"Good night Munchkin, good night Stephanie," Bobby said in an exasperated growl, then quickly hung up.

The next morning Meena gently shook me awake.

"Did you hear that?", she asked nervously.

"Hear what?", I said.

" I think someone is trying to break in. I heard the deadbolt lock tumble and the chain. Stay here, I'm going to go check it out, she said taking the gun from her nightstand."

I laid there holding my breath when I heard the front door slowly creek open. I had watched Meena lock the door, as well secure the chain and floor bolt the night before. She was right someone was breaking into her apartment.


	24. Overprotective

Babe was right, after a shower, a good night's rest and Ella's cooking, I did feel much better. Now I was eager to get back to Stephanie. As I walked into the hospital room I could see my Babe was peacefully asleep. This was not the restless slumber filled with nightmares I saw her go through the over past few nights. I wondered what had brought on such a soothing night of rest. Then I saw that there were two women in the bed. They were tucked in tight sharing a pillow. Meena's head was resting in the crook of Stephanie's neck and Babe's head was gently nuzzled on top of Meena's head. A slight curl came to the corners of my mouth. These two were amusingly adorable.

Then I thought about it. I did not know this woman. Sure she was Bobby's friend, but what did that mean? I had not run a background check on her. Exactly how long had Brown known Meena and why was he hiding her? Meena's reaction to me had been unnerving. She did not even so much as bat an eyelash when I gave her a look that had made grown men need to change their pants. I did not like the way she insisted on only reporting to Bobby when it was clear I was in charge. I got the impression Meena did not always play by the rules, that she could be obstinate and a little too independent for my taste. This woman did not seem to like me much. I am Carlos Manoso, women love me, they walk into walls when I smile at them. No, this woman had no business in this room. She should not be cuddled up with my Babe.

"What are you doing in here!"

"You are so damn rude. If you don't have any consideration for me, you should have at least noticed she was sleeping too," Meena complained.

"What are you doing here !"I demanded once more.

Meena did not answer me, instead, she went for the door.

I stood there blocking her exit.

"Excuse me sir you are in my way".

"I ask you a question! What are you doing in here in this room, in her bed? You better tell me now or we are going to have a problem!" I growled angrily.

"We already have a problem. Don't you talk to me like that!" She hissed.

" The sign on the door has been clearly marked no visitors and so has her chart. I'm the only one she gave the Okay too. So once again, what are you doing in here, because you are obviously not on duty!" I barked aggressively.

"You need to move out of that doorway and let me leave NOW!"

Who did this little chick think she was? There was no way I was letting her leave until she gave me some answers.

" You want me out of this doorway, answer my question, or make me move you little midget," I hissed towering over her tiny frame in a threatening manner.

Meena's eyes narrowed angrily at me as she took a step in my direction. If I was not so angry, this situation would have been completely laughable. Meena was like a barking chihuahua, annoying as hell but completely harmless.

" The big bad mercenary is name calling and bullying women. I'm not impressed or scared of you Ranger."

"Be glad you're a woman, if you were a man, I would have swung first and ask questions later."

"I don't understand how Bobby handles being around a man that behaves this way. Is he aware that you are this big a Jerk ?"

"So what now, you are going to tell Bobby on me?" I told her as I tried to keep from laughing.

" That is not even my style sweetheart. I don't need him or anyone else to fight my battles for me," Meena huffed with her hands on her hips, standing on her tiptoes in an attempting to get into my face. This was comical, the micro mini woman was, at least, a foot shorter than me and only about half my weight.

"Please, what are you going to do?, bite my ankles".

"You'll find out momentarily if you keep standing in that doorway."

Yeah right, she was obliviously more bark than bite.

At least, that is what I thought until Meena faked a kick to my shin. When I moved to dodger her foot, she launched a sneak attack on my cojones with her fist. While was doubled over in pain, Meena walked out the door. I could not believe it this little dwarf had me groaning in pain. Man, she had a nasty jab!

"She has got the right name. That is a mean little woman," I grumbled.

"Why did you that she was nice me. Meena kept me company while you were gone," Babe said sadly.

Wait, what, was Stephanie telling me she was just fine without me being here last night because Meena had replaced me? I guess the two of them had spent the night chattering and braiding hair.

"Well I'm here now Babe, you don't need her", I told Stephanie as I kissed the top of her head.

She jerked her head back. What was that my Babe did not react to me this way!

"Come on Babe don't be like that I missed you."

"What wrong with you Ranger you act that way you're a good guy. You don't treat people like that, you don't bully woman you protect them."

"The only woman I am interested in protecting right now is you, Babe. I'm your only visitor and that woman had no business in this room!"

"I'm sorry I just want … You're my Babe and if you need anything I want to be the one here for you."

She did not need anyone else she was my Babe. I wanted to take care of her I needed to be there for her.

" Don't tell me you are sorry, tell Meena," Stephanie told me.

"I 'm done talking about that pint-sized puncher."

She let out an exasperated groan and closed her eyes. Great, now Stephanie was going to ignore me. I had worried about her all night. Didn't she miss me? I had I missed her.

After an hour, Babe still was not talking to me. I could not understand why she was so mad over what happened with Meena. She had just met her, I was the one who ended up in pain.

"Babe if you don't want me here, let me know and I will come back later."

"That's up to you, It's not like I'm going to kick you out of my room."

"I get it, Babe, I'll see you later," I said before kissing her on the cheek and exiting the hospital room.

I had just driven almost two hours to get back to her and now she did not want me around.

When I got back to Rangeman I stopped by the control room to have Tank bring me up to speed on what was going on.

"You back already, did you leave Stephanie alone?," Tank ask.

"She didn't want me there right now, so I left."

"Bomber told you that?"

"No."

"Then how do you know she wanted you to go?"

I shot Tank a lethal glare to let him know that continuing this conversation could be hazardous to his health.

Tank shook his head at me sadly.

"You got something you want to say to me Tank?"

We stood there glaring at one another, not blinking, our eyes locked and loaded with hostility. The staring contest ended when the phone rang. I watched Tank answer.

" Sheik Hadid has an outing planned to Six flags Great adventure this evening. He wants security for the nanny, the Au Pair and all of the kids", Tank explained.

"How many do they have Three or four?"

"Five, remember the twins."

"Right, the boy tossed a firecracker into the fountain at the mall last time."

"Yeah and that oldest son is a real pervert. He kept dropping his phone under girls skirts so he could get a peek and a snapshot. The boy would have had his butt kicked by some girl's boyfriend if Zip had not jumped in," Tank said.

"So who do you want to put on this detail? You know whoever you choose is not going to be happy about it," Tank stated.

"Brown and Santos are still on duty right? Give it to them," I laughed.

"Ranger, they have been on since early this morning. That is going to make a long day for those two, plus it puts them in overtime for this week," Tank informed me.

"They can handle it. Besides what else could those two have to do on a Friday night?"I said with a smirk.

Tank looked at me and shook his head again.

The idea of Bobby and Lester chasing those brats around Six Flags took the edge off my mood.

I decided to go to the gym and work off the rest of my frustration. First I ran several miles on the treadmill. After that, I moved on to the speed bag, then to the heavy bag until my arms ached. By the time I was finished with my workout I was drenched in sweat.

When I got out of the shower and went into the bedroom, Ella had laid out a fresh uniform for me and set dinner on the table. I had just finished eating when my phone buzzed with a text message from Tank. There were three branches of law enforcement waiting for me downstairs. They all wanted to speak with me about the incident with Stephanie and the extent of Range man's involvement.

In the lobby waiting for me were two men in suits, another man in plain clothes wearing a detective badge around his neck and one of Trenton's Morelli. With the exception of Joe all of the men were eager to get questioning me about the investigation. Each branch was being territorial. The Feds, NYPD, and Trenton all wanting to be the one to bring in the two key players of the Russian mafia.

At this moment, I wished that involving law enforcement had not been necessary. Due to the extent of Stephanie's injuries and her need for emergency treatment. Providing an explanation to the police had been unavoidable. Tank had called the police from Dmitriy's home, spoken with the spoken and handled the paperwork.

All of the men were talking at once practically demanding a statement from me. Everyone except Joe Morelli. He was not his usual brooding angry self. Joe did not seem to possess the normal intensity he often displayed. Instead, Morelli stood quietly in the back of the lobby.

"Detective Morelli what can I do for you?" I asked.

Slowly Joe stepped out from behind the other men and walked up to me silently.

"Why don't we go to my office and talk?" I suggested.

Morelli entered my office and slouched in a chair, I sat at my desk in front of him.

Joe looked up from his lap with a pained expression on his face. "How is she Manoso?"

"She is pretty banged up, had to have two different surgeries."

"I was up in New York earlier today to compare notes on the case. I saw the evidence photos of her. Please tell me they look worst than they are," Joe almost pleaded.

Photos, yeah that's right the hospital would have taken pictures to provide law enforcement with documentation of the evidence.

"I have not seen them yet. This is the first time I have heard anything about the investigation or spoken to the police. I have been With Stephanie she needs me," I told Joe.

"I tried to check on her at the hospital while I was in New York earlier today. They would not let me into see her, not even when I flashed my badge".

"Yeah, Babe is not ready for visitors right now. She is refusing to eat and barely talking".

Joe grimaced and then stood to leave.

"I have persuaded Trenton to let The FBI handle this one. Since she was transported across state lines the kidnapping becomes a federal case anyway. That is one less interview she with have to sit though and one less statement she will have to make to the cops."

"Thanks, I'm sure she will appreciate that," I said to Morelli.

"It is the least I can do for a friend. You know I feel about Cupcake. Take care of her Manoso she is in loves with you."

We took the elevator back down to the lobby and there were three pissed off men waiting for me.

The Federal agents stepped in front of the detective from New York.

"Mr. Manoso we are going to need you to come with us."

"Do you have a warrant?"

"No, you are not being arrested, just taken to headquarters for a routine interview. Your cooperation would save us the trouble of having to obtain a warrant."

However if you are not in the mood to speak with us we can go talk to Ms. Plum."

"I'll follow you in my car."

After an hours drive to the federal building, I placed my phone and weapons in under my seat and locked my car before going in side to be interviewed. I knew I would not be allowed to enter with my weapons and I had no intention of handing over my phone or allowing it to be digital skimmed for information.

When I entered the build I was walked through three metal detectors, then subjected to a pat down. After waiting 90 minutes in an interview room agents Collins and Jefferies strolled in ready to take my statement.

"Thank your for you cooperation Mr. Manoso" , Jefferies said.

"Can you tell us how your company came to be involved in this case?" Collins asked.

"Ms. Plum was abducted from the ladies room at the Trenton municipal building. When we reported the incident, TPD said it was too soon to report her as a missing person. Since we knew no one else would be looking for her, we did."

"Exactly how did you find Ms. Plum?"

"A lot of manpower and good investigating skills," I said.

"Care to elaborate?"Collins said probing for more details.

"No."

"Both men suffered GSWs that night. Was it someone on the Rangeman payroll who shot them?" Collins accused.

"No".

"So you are telling us it was Ms. Plum who shot them?" Jefferies asked.

"I have no idea, I was not there when the Yuri or Dmitry Kuma were shot. They were both injured when my staff arrived on the scene".

"Neither Dmitry or Yuri was armed when the police arrived. Do you think Ms. Plum would be capable of shooting an unarmed man?" Jefferies questioned.

"Only in self-defence," I answered.

"You wouldn't happen to know where Ms. Plums Cell phone is?" Collins asked.

"NO".

"I think you do," he accused.

"Why would that even be relevant?"

"A warrant was granted for the service provider of Ms. plum's Cell service. When we attempted to retrieve her text messages, the data was scrambled. Then it was encrypted by some type of military level security program," Jefferies informed me.

"You would not have anything to do with that would you Manoso?" Collins asked.

"No".

Collins sat a folder on the table in front of me before opening it.

"Good looking woman, she your?"

"We work together, we are colleges."

"I hear she is more than that to you," Jefferies stated.

I kept my blank mask in place, refusing to take the bait.

"What do you Know about her involvement with Yuri and Dmitry?"

"I know she met Yuri at an event about two months ago. She later met his brother Dmitry two weeks ago at a club," I told the agents.

"Both men are claiming to have intimate relationships with Ms. plum. What can you tell us about that?" Jefferies asked.

"Completely untrue, both men have been stalking Stephanie. She has made it clear that she has no interest in Dmitry or Yuri, romantic or otherwise." I clarified for the agents.

"You know this because?"

"She told me."

"Well, Dmitry told us that Ms. Plum went with him willingly for a rendezvous. He says he did not have to kidnap her, she was into the man," Collins laughed. "The story he has been telling is that he took her up to his place and they were interrupted by Yuri. Big brother was not to happy about Dmitry getting cozy with his girl. Then Your men showed up and whisk her away,"he said with a smirk.

"If that was the case ,why was Ms. Plum injured?" I asked.

"Good question, but a better one might be how or even who?" Collins sneered.

"Excuse me, Detective, is that an accusation?" I asked.

"No not really, more like a scenario. What if you caught your woman with two men? I would imagine a man like you would be extremely angry, no telling what you might do."

I stood up knocking over the chair as my anger was piqued.

"Easy Manoso, calm down the doors locked. Sit take your seat!" Collins said with his hand on his weapon.

"Come on Collins this man is a decorated military officer. He does not beat women." Jefferies said.

" Maybe not ,but now that we have his attention, we can let him in on what is really going on. The Kuzmas are key players in the Russian know for a fact that Dmitry is into human trafficking. With his cooperation and that of his woman's, we can get a warrant that will help us find other evidence against them." Collins chimed in.

"We could really use your help here." Jefferies added.

"Like I said, I was not there and I don't know what happened that night at Dmitry's house." I told the detectives.

"You need to convince Ms. Plum to cooperate with us. Before their attorneys make us let them go because we can't make a case."

"Not going to happen, you have obviously never met Stephanie Plum. Besides you think I don't know that the second she cooperates with the FBI, her name goes on a list of people to testify against two mafia members. That would put her in danger, people who testify Federal mob case have been know to come up missing or worse ," I said.

Collins took the evidence photos of Stephanie from the folder and spread them out on the table in front of me. Her injuries had been enlarged and the pictures were brutal and graphic.

"If someone did this to a woman I cared about I would want to see them put away in a concrete cell."

"This interview is over!" I hissed.

By the time I got back to Range man, it was well after 12:00 A.M. Lester were waiting for me in the garage .

"Hey, man did you hear on the news about Stephanie's hospital? Lester asked.

"Hear what , is she alright?"

"Relax she is fine. There was some sort of indecent at the hospital, they have the entire building blocked off. The place is swarming ATF, the bomb squad, and fire department," Lester informed me.

"How do you know she is fine?" I asked.

"I talked to Meena. Bomber is with her. ... at her place." Bobby said.

"WHAT?" "Stephanie was not ready to leave the hospital, "I growled.

"Yeah, but a visit from the Feds scared her and she felt unsafe at the hospital. She tried to call you but you did not pick up. I could not get to my phone because someone put me on babysitting duty. Those kids are brats and taking a phone call was not an option. Meena was there at the hospital so she took Bomber home with her before the incident at the hospital happened. Bobby explained.

"If I was not so glad she is safe this would be a problem for you and your woman. Give me her address so I can go get Stephanie," I told Bobby.

"No can do man. You can't go up there this time of night. They are already in bed and plan to sleep late. Come see me in the some time before noon and I will give you her address and phone number. We can go together.

I was up at 6:00. After a workout and breakfast, I decide it was time for me to go get my Babe. She was afraid and I needed to make sure she was alright. I logged onto the computer and did a quick search to find Meena's address. After finding out she lived in Bronx , NY ,I was on my way.

I let myself in the same way I always did when I went to see Stephanie. Babe would just have to explain it to Meena.

When the door opened, Meena was standing in the foyer pointing a gun at me. Her stance was perfect, feet positioned shoulders width apart, with a both hands on her weapon, arms extended in front of her body.

"Easy Thumbelina, it's just me," I said with my hand raised in front of me.

She did not respond and kept her weapon trained on me.

"You should never pull a gun on someone you are not prepared to shoot." I informed Meena.

"What makes you think I won't shoot you?" she laughed.

"Okay, sure you will. You do know that I can easily disarm you, right? It only takes three steps, clear, control, and disarm. Well really four, but I see no need to disable you," I guffawed.

"If you say so Ranger," she said with a smile.

"It's rude to point a gun at a guest," I told her.

"You are not a guest, and it's also rude to encroach on my apartment."

Swiftly I moved to disarm Meena. I stepped away from the center line of the gunfire to clear my body from the path of a bullet. My second step would have been to take control of the weapon by grabbing it, that would be followed by step three , completely disarming her by confiscating the gun. But it did not go down that way. Maybe it was because I did not want to hurt her so I moved without the normal aggression or seriousness used to disarm someone. It could have been because she was so small, or the fact that I completely underestimated the young woman. Somehow Meena managed to maneuver away from me and dodge steps two and three. As if she anticipated my next move, Meena lowered her body, then the gun. She stepped back at 45-degree angle out of my reach, then she placed the gun in the rear waistband of her jeans, all with catlike precision and speed.


	25. All Up In His Feelings

Meena walked away from me and into the kitchen. She picked up the phone and dialed on speaker. Her call was answered on the first ring.

"Hey munchkin, is this what you call sleeping in? It's barely 9:00," Bobby yawned in a sleepy voice.

"Bobby your boss is here. He broke into my apartment. You _need_ to come get him _now_."

"So you are telling me you shot him?"

"No."

"I am disappointed in you Meena."

"Yeah keep joking now, but it won't be funny when you have to patch him up. How long is it going to take you to get up here?"

"I'm putting my clothes on as we speak."

"See you when you get here."

"Well, are you just going to stand there in the foyer staring? Come in or let yourself out that door you broke into. If you come in, don't you dare wear your boots in my apartment."

I looked at Meena, her hair was still mussed from sleep. She had her nightgown tucked into her jeans and under her eyes were dark bags. I had woken her yet again. From what little I did know about her, I remembered she worked long sometimes late hours. Suddenly I felt bad about disturbing her rest. I understood what sleep deprivation felt like.

Meena walked over to the coffee maker and started a pot brewing.

"I'm going to go tell her that it's you and she can relax and go back to sleep. You can have a seat over there," Meena said as she pointed to her breakfast bar.

Meena padded back into the kitchen. She took two mugs from the cabinet then filled them with coffee. Meena slid a mug in my direction and waited for me to accept it.

I was completely taken back by her behavior. The fact was, I had not been exactly nice to Meena. I was being an ass too and I knew it. My behavior had been way out of line every since Stephanie had been kidnapped. I had always been Mister cool calm and collected. Now I was behaving in a way that was unproductive and fueled by emotions. I knew my reactions were off and I was acting out, but I could not seem to stop myself.

"Earth to Ranger," Meena sang interrupting my thoughts.

"Yes."

"You know your social skills could really use some work."

"So I have been told."

I sipped my coffee and looked at the woman standing across from me. I thought about what she had done to me at the hospital and this morning when I tried to disarm her.

"Who are you?"

"Meena Patel, remember we met like a week ago at the hospital," She said with a smirk.

"That is not what I was asking you Meena."

"Yeah, I know."

After we finished our coffee Meena left me sitting at the breakfast bar. Then she took a seat on the couch as she turned on CNN.

I focused on the door to Meena's bedroom where I knew Babe was sleeping.

Without looking up from the television, Meena shook her head "no" at me.

"She sleeping right now let her rest while she can. The I.V. painkillers are going to be out of her system soon. If she still won't eat, I can't give her the pills on an empty stomach," Meena explained.

We sat in silence for about forty-five minutes until the doorbell rang. Meena picked up her phone and checked the time. She eyed the door suspiciously as she got up taking her gun from the small of her back. I was got up and stood behind the door with my own weapon drawn.

"Who is it?" she asked nervously.

"It's me Munchkin."

"Bobby ?"

"How many other men you got showing up to your place girl?"

Meena lowered her gun and opened the door. She stepped aside to let Bobby and Lester into her apartment.

"You are not supposed to be yet", Meena complained."Bobby, you can't be driving like a maniac! I know how long it take to drive from Trenton to The Bronx and it is not forty-five minutes."

"An hour, it took me an hour to get here," Bobby said.

"Not funny , you know it takes more than an hour."

"Stop yelling at me woman," Bobby teased.

"Stop laughing at me Bobby, I am serious."

Bobby put one are around Meena's waist and lifted her onto the coffee. Then he leaned in for a long kiss and backed away slightly.

"You done with your lecture?" he joked.

Meena slumped against him breathlessly.

"I only lecture you because care."

He looked Meena over carefully.

"Are you alright?" Bobby asked, his voice was overflowing with concern.

"Come on man you know I wouldn't hurt her."

"Nobody is talking to you Ranger," Bobby snapped at me.

"I'm fine really, it's alright," Meena assured him.

"No, it's not!"

Bobby turned his attention from Meena to me.

"Outside now Ranger!"

"I don't take orders from you, Brown"

"You are going outside to meet me in the parking lot, or me, Lester and Meena are going to play a little game called who shot Ranger," Bobby growled.

I looked around the room. Meena still had her weapon, Lester had his gun drawn and Bobby had his hand on his holster at his waist.

"You are not in charge here. We are not on the Range man clock right now. If one of us has to put a bullet in you, it will be personal not business," Lester said.

The entire way down the stair Bobby was right on my heels. As soon as we got outside and I had one foot off the curb, Bobby shoved me hard from behind. My body hit the ground hard and rolled.

Bobby glared down at me as I shot him a lethal glare.

"Come on Ranger get up, you feel froggy leap. I'm right here!" he shouted.

"If you ever do that again!... How do you think that made her feel? She had no idea who was coming through her door! You don't do that man! You don't come into her apartment uninvited! I'm sick of you disrespecting my Munchkin. It's going to stop Ranger !"

I had never seen Bobby so angry. He was yelling at the top of his voice flapping his arms and kicking up dirt and gravel from the parking lot. I sat there on the ground in shock. I watched Tank drive up and get out of the SUV . Then he walked up behind Brown. Bobby had become so agitated with me and my behavior that he did not even notice Tank arriving.

"You are not going continue to mistreat my Munchkin anymore," Bobby hissed.

"Munchkin, did you get a cat too Bobby, what kind? Calm down man Ranger is not nice to my babies either. Some people are just are dog lovers."

Bobby stopped yelling and looked at me we both looked at Tank and shook or heads.

"What are doing here Tank?"

"Ella gave me these to give to Stephanie," he said holding up a bag of clothes. "I texted Lester but he said you two were already headed up so he gave me the directions."

Bobby looked down at me and offered me a hand off the ground.

"No Tank I 'm talking about Meena, you have not met her yet. Ranger thought it would bee a good idea to drive up here and let himself into _my woman's_ apartment while she was sleeping."

"You need help man, that is not normal," Tank said.

"I'm going to text Meena to let her know you are on your way up. Lester will introduce you," Bobby said.

"You left Santos alone with your woman ?"

"She can take care of herself, if he takes his flirting too far she will let him know."

"Yeah Polly pocket is tough," I said with a smirk.

"Enough, her name is Meena, Ranger !" "Get in the truck we are going for a ride."

Bobby was being bossy and demanding, normally I would have set him straight. But since I had been doing the same thing, I let him slide and got in his truck.

Bobby drove quietly for few minutes.

Bomber has got you all up in your feelings and you don't know how to handle it. Bobby said shaking his head.

"Excuse me ?"

"What happened to focusing on the goal and not letting emotions get in the way? Do you even remember what the goal is Ranger? It was supposed to be keeping Stephanie safe," Bobby reminded me.

"Tell me something I don't know Brown."

"Don't worry I'm getting to that. But if you were keeping her safe,why would you leave her alone at the hospital ?"

"She didn't want me there," I mumbled.

"She didn't want me there", Brown repeated in a high pitched whiny voice. That's bull and you know it man, since when has that ever stopped you before? It has never stopped you from tracking her phone or car, from putting a tail or a man on her. Your leaving was about you!

"Shut up Bobby you don't understand! I was supposed to protect I promised her and look what happened!"

"I get it, man, I really do."

"Sure you do Bobby, you get what it is like to watch the woman you care about be hurt and suffer and then withdraw from you and everything and everyone. You know how it is to feel responsible for not only being unable to protect her, but not knowing how to help her?" I vented.

"Yes I do", Bobby said quietly.

"What are talking about ,when .. are you talking about Meena? What happened to her?" I ask

"Not my business to tell, but if you really want to know I 'm sure _she_ will tell you. But we are talking about you right now. You are lashing out at people who are here to help you and her. Ranger, you said that you don't know how to help Stephanie. How about asking us to help? You could do that, but you have to put your ego aside for _her_ sake. What you are doing is NOT helping anyone. None of us are going to sit back and watch you allow her to self-destruct.

Bobby parked then got out and went into a diner.

He was right, Stephanie had made feel again. She had awakened emotions I had shut down many Black-Ops missions ago. I was having a hard time dealing with the fact that some man had hurt her while I was away. Then I promised her that we would keep her her safe and that did not happen. She would not talk to me about it and I wondered if she knew this was all my fault. I should have had a man on her while I was out of town and trusting Ram with her safety had proved to be a mistake. I needed to make this right, but the way I was going about it had been all wrong. My ego had not allowed me to enlist anyone else for help. I was making a big mess that was not helping her at all. I knew I needed to get a grip and I was going to start by trusting the people around me. Trying to do it the Ranger way had not been working. I now knew it was time to try someone else's way.

Bobby came back to the truck with several bags of food and placed them on the back seat.

"I'm sorry, for the way I treated Meena. I know I would not like if anyone did that to Babe. Meena has been really helpful to Stephanie, and I guess ...

"You were jealous that someone else could provide something for your woman that you could not," Bobby offered.

"I won't confirm or deny that statement Brown."

"You don't have to, I am satisfied with the fact that I have just received an apology from Ranger Manoso."

"Enjoy it, man, I don't issue too many", I told him.

When we got back to Meena's place Bobby let himself in with a key.

"If you have key why did you knock before?" I asked.

"Because I thought she had enough people walk into her apartment unannounced for one day," Bobby said.

After Bobby opened the door I got inside and I sat next to Meena on the couch.

"Look I'm sorry. I was wrong for my breaking and entering and trying to disarm you. I should not have yelled at you at the hospital. Thank you for everything you have done for Stephanie."

"You did what?" Bobby said frowning at me.

"You didn't tell him?"

Meena shook her head yes "I accept your apology. I guess I'm sorry I punched you in the nuts ... the second time," she laughed.

"Wait, what?" Lester said?


	26. Team Work

I woke up confused and disoriented, trying to figure out where I was. This was not my apartment and not Ranger's place either. A strangled scream caught in my throat as my fear heightened. Then the hospital bracelet around my wrist reminded me that I had spent the night at Meena's apartment. She had been flooding me with water every few hours. She said It had something to do with staying hydrated and protecting my injured kidneys. Now my bladder was overflowing. I got up to use the restroom, took a wrong turn and stumbled into the kitchen. The room buzzed with chatter and laughter, mostly coming from Lester, Meena and Bobby. I stood there frozen, watching everyone eat and talk. Lester was the first to notice me.

"Hey Steph," he said as he got up and ambled in my direction.

Lester was not wearing his trademark mischievous smile. His green eyes focused an intensive appraising looking that started at the top of my head, wandered down my body and settled on my eyes.

"Nice to see you how are you feeling?" He asked sincerely. Lester's tone was soft and uncertain, not his usual playful one I was used to.

Without warning everyone stopped eating and looked at me. Suddenly the number of people in the room seemed overwhelming. Their glances felt probing. Lester took my hand in his and gently threaded his finger through mine.A rush of complex emotions swept over me. Abruptly I wrenched my hand from his and stepped backwards. I hurried into the bathroom but not before seeing the hurt look register in Lester's eyes.

"I'm sorry Lester," I whispered as I slumped against the bathroom door.

When I opened the bathroom door I quickly looked around before heading back to the bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed hoping no one would enter. Within minutes, I heard a single knock on the door and knew it was Ranger.

" Babe," he said as he stepped into the room.

Ranger strolled in my direction. I got to my feet and off of the bed as I backed away from him. His mood and energy had been off and it made me nervous. Ranger's mysterious persona now seemed edgier and dangerous. The anger I had seen him unleash on Meena had left me shaken.

" Babe ?" he said as he reached for me.

I scrambled backwards without looking and fell into an armchair. Ranger dropped his blank mask and a pained expression came into view.

"You're mad me?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong Babe ?"

"Something is off with you Ranger."

He did not reply to my statement.

"You left me all alone at the hospital, I never told you I did not want you there."

"I know, that was all me and my ego."

"I was afraid and needed help. You didn't even return my phone calls. Why didn't you check on me after you went home? Then you show up unannounced and uninvited and break in here. You really scared us Ranger! The thing's you are doing, they are not you, and not things the man I know and love would do! They make feel ….."

"I know Babe, I'm sorry, I was wrong. It won't happen again. I have apologized to Meena. You are right. I have been off and it's because I am worried about you."

Ranger gently lifted me out of the chair before sitting down and placing me onto his lap.

"I have no idea what happened to you while you were in that house and that scares me. Babe, how did you end up with so many injuries? Who beat you like that, was it Yuri or Dmitriy ?" Ranger asked sadly. He was quiet for a few minutes while he waited for me to answer.

"Stephanie tell me how this whole thing started. What really happened the night you met Yuri?"

"I already told you."

"NO, you didn't Stephanie. It will help you to talk about it. You can't keep this pain bottled up like you have been doing Babe."

" I'm fine Ranger !"

Ranger looked at me as if I had just told him that I had laid an egg.

"Are you serious, you're fine? If you are fine, when is the last time you ate? Tell me if you are fine, why did you need to be admitted to the hospital ?"

"So what, I'm not interested in pigging out, big deal. You are a making it seem like I have turned anorexic. It not like I haven't been injured before. You have taken me to the hospital before to get treated," I said defensively.

"What about this Stephanie?" Ranger said as his fingertips touched the bruises on my thigh that were not covered by the boxers I was wearing. He pulled one of the legs of the short to get a better look. There were large hand print-shaped bruises Dmitriy had left when attempted to pry my thigh apart. Ranger gently traced the bruise with his finger.

"How did this happen? You want to tell me about it or is this also not a big deal either?" he whispered.

My body stiffened as I slapped Ranger's hand away and yanked leg of my boxers back down.

"Don't go there, Ranger !" I hissed. I made an attempt to get away from him, but my escape was thwarted when he grabbed a fist full of my Tee shirt.

"Calm down Babe," Ranger murmured into my ear me as he held me close. "It's alright," he told then place a kissed on my head.

My entire body was trembling and I did not quite know why. Ranger held me quietly for several minutes

"Babe you are so deep in denial land that I am going to have to assemble a search team to find you. I can't let you keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Come on Stephanie, you know what I'm talking about. You are wasting away to a stick figure and shutting out everyone who cares about you. You're so quiet these days that it shocks you to hear your own voice. Stephanie, there is a room full of people out there who love and care about you. Babe, you need help to heal, let use help you heal."

Ranger's phone buzzed with a text message. He read it and stood up taking me with him.

"Lester !" he called.

As Lester entered the room I tucked myself behind Ranger.

"Yeah what's up man?"

"I got some Intel about Yuri and Dmitriy. I need you to go check it out with me."

"Sure man, but what about Tank ?" Lester said.

"Did someone call me?" Tank asked as he stepped into the room.

"Surveillance footage from the hospital is being delivered to the control room. I need you to go take a look at it and I.D. the Feds that questioned Stephanie."

"Roger that."

"Excuse me, what are all of you doing in my bedroom this is not a conference room." Meena laughed. "All of you out, Steph needs her rest."

"We are going," Lester said. "But what about her?" he said pointing to me.

"Bobby can take her back to Trenton," Ranger said. That's cool with you, right.

"Yes, but is she cool with it?" Bobby said looking around Ranger to me.

"She going to have to be," Ranger said. "Steph going to work on letting us all help her.

"Actually, I am not alright with that," Meena said. "It would be better if you let her stay another night so I can continue to keep an eye on her."

"I can handle that," Bobby said.

"Not like I can, not through the night. You're not going to sleep with her."

Lester almost doubled over laughing when she said that. Tank and Bobby were making faces trying their best to contain theirs.

"I would not mind staying another night," I said to Ranger.

"Bobby, can you stay here with them?" There may be some bad guys looking for Babe."

Bobby was concentrating on not laughing with his lips pulled tight across his face and did not answer Ranger.

"Bobby !"

"Yeah I got it, man," he said with laughter playing in his voice.

"Now that you have that all settled, all of you out of my bedroom," Meena teased.

I had been struggling to go back to sleep for the last hour, but the intense pain that rippled through my body kept me from resting.

"Hey, are you alright, your breathing does not sound good."

"I'm fine."

She turned on the light and looked at me.

"You look really pale," she said touching my forehead. "No fever, are you in pain?"

"I am going to hurl!"

Meena grabbed the trash can and handed to me just in time.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I hurt bad all over!"

"One to ten what your pain level", she asked.

'I don't know, like 5," I said not wanting to sound like a wimp.

"Liar."

Meena examine me thoroughly. She took my temperature checked all of my injuries as well as my blood pressure.

"Your blood pressure is elevated. I think it's because you are in distress from the pain. The meds you had in your system have worn off. I can't give you the pills because you vomiting even though all you have had was liquids. Your body is probably reacting to the pain."

"Why I am in so much pain I asked Meena "My whole body aches, _everywhere_."

She looked at me like I was crazy. This was the second time today I had gotten that look.

"That is a stupid question. You have bad bruises _everywhere_. They are not just on the skin, some of them are down to the muscle. Several of your ribs are broken. You no longer have a spleen. Someone cut you open and took it out. Normally that would be laparoscopic surgery. Yours was so enlarged you had to have open surgery. Do I really need to go on and list the rest of your injuries? Look I don't know what happened to you at the house or who did what to you..."

"Yuri Kuzma and his brother happened to me."

"Wait, you mean, Yuri Kuzma the Offensive lineman? Played for the Carolina Panthers?"

"Yes, that's him."

"That guy is huge !"

"So is his brother. Are you sure it's normal for my body to be in this much pain?"

"Yes, but what's not normal Stephanie, is your grasp on reality. I just gave you a list of your injuries and you are still asking the same question."

Meena picked up her cell phone and began to text. She waited for a few minutes for a reply. After reading she went back and forth several times before she blew out an exasperated sigh. Then Meena pulled on a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, her jacket and running shoes.

"I'll be back, don't tell Bobby," she said before scooping up my medical records, going out the window and down the fire escape.

Five minutes later I heard Bobby knock on the bedroom door.

"Hey munchkin, I just got a text from Ranger. I need to talk to you," he said opening the door.

Bobby walked around to Meena's side of the bed and noticed she was not there. Then he walked out of the room. I heard him pad down the hallway to the bathroom.

"Your look pale and you're shaking, you alright?"

"I'll be fine my pain meds have worn off."

"Did you tell Meena?" Bobby asked.

I nodded.

He, had worry etched all over his face as he looked at me and asked,"Where is she?"

"I don't know, she didn't tell me where she was going," I said.

"Do you want to try to eat so I can give you something for the pain?" Bobby asked.

"No, not right now,"I answered.

Bobby walked over to the window and locked it. He paced back and forth for the next fifteen minutes, pausing several times to look out the window and down the fire escape. Then something caught his attention and Bobby pulled a chair in front of the window to sit down.

I could hear footsteps climbing up the fire escape, then sound of someone attempting to opening the window. Bobby sat quietly for several minutes he pull the curtains back and stared at Meena.

"Come on Bobby, unlock the window it's not exactly warm out here!"

Bobby shook his head, unlocked and opened the window. Then he wrapped one arm around Meena's waist and effortlessly pulled her inside.

"Where have been!" he asked angerly holding Meena at eye level.

"The clinic, now put me down and I'll explain".

Bobby walked over and dropped Meena onto the bed next to me. Then he turned on the light.

"Talk."

She ignored him as she took a syringe from her jacket along with a smile vial of medicine. Wordless Meena pulled on a pair of gloves and filled the syringe from the vial. Then she took my arm and injected the medication. Normally the sight of a needle would have freaked me out but I was in too much pain to care right now.

"What is that?" Bobby asked.

She tossed him the bottle.

"Where did you get this? It's hardcore stuff."

"I'm a Physicians assistant. I am allowed to write prescriptions at the clinic. "

"Yes I know, but only the doctor's have access to pain meds at your clinic. It is the middle of the night, so how did you get this?"

"I called Dr. Sloan and explained the situation. He agreed to come to meet me at the clinic with the access code and sign off on the prescription for me."

"Is this the same doctor who keeps saying the two of you should make some curry babies. The one that called you his Desi princess."

"Yes".

"Do I want to know what you promised that man in return?"

"He needs a date to his parent's 50th-anniversary party. No one wanted to escort him. Go figure huh?"

Bobby looked at her and laughed, "Have fun."

"You don't care?" she whined.

"Yeah I care that you went out of here in the middle of the night alone. You don't live in the best neighborhood and the clinic is in a really bad part of town. That's not safe Meena. You can't do stuff like this," Bobby told her.

"Spare me the lecture, I know."

"Ranger want's to know if Stephanie can stay here another night. He is working on finding a safe house for her. This situation with Yuri and Dmitriy just got more complicated. Now we have to worry about hiding her from the Feds too," Bobby explained.

Or he can just keep Stephanie here. They don't know me or where I live. There is no way Yuri or Dmitriy would connect me and her.

"What's going on Bobby?" I asked fighting the medication as tried not to fall asleep.


End file.
